An Austrian couple keenly awaiting the delivery of two mail-order dresses were left somewhat surprised when they received almost 25,000 ecstasy tablets in the post instead.
The couple, aged 58 and 59, in Linz, received two parcels over breakfast, with one containing the aforementioned dresses which had been ordered from the Netherlands.
At first, the wife mistook the tablets as decorative stones to be sewn onto the dresses, but upon further inspection, her husband is said to have recognised that they were tablets and returned the package to the post office.
Estimates place the value of the 24,800 ecstasy tablets at around €500,000.
From there, the City Police Command of Linz was informed. An official statement said: “In the following investigation it turned out that it was a mail misconduct – the package should have been actually sent from the Netherlands to Scotland.
“Since the package also contained references to the Scottish recipient, the National Crime Agency was contacted by the Scottish police, who had immediately taken over the further investigations on site and were able to investigate and arrest the addressee.”
The news comes after politicians and medics called for an urgent overhaul of drug policy in July, after figures indicated Scotland’s drugs deaths are at their worst level since records began, with the highest reported rate in Europe.
There were 1,187 drug-related deaths registered in 2018, climbing above 1,000 for the first time and 27% (253) higher than the previous year.
The National Records of Scotland statistics indicate that Scotland’s drugs death rate is nearly triple that of the UK and higher than the reported rate for any other country in the EU – however, the report warned of under-reporting concerns in some EU nations.
It is at the highest level since current records began in 1996 and more than double the 2008 figure of 574.