Arrested by Officers for Ordering Five Pills

In Switzerland, authorities charged a 25-year-old man with violations of the Narcotics Act after he ordered five ecstasy pills from a darknet vendor that the police intercepted. The suspect asked the vendor for a reship, but instead of the drugs at his door, he said he found “almost ten policemen.” He argued that the overkill caused him emotional distress. Despite the negative experience, the buyer said that he would not let the police keep him from doing ecstasy. Next time I will order “the pills from a Swiss supplier,” he said.

The 25-year-old said that he had tried drugs for the first time in the Summer of 2017. He discovered LSD, liked it, and wanted to experiment with other substances. “So I ordered five ecstasy pills from the Netherlands on the darknet,” he told the court. The allotted delivery window passed and the drugs had not arrived. After talking to the darknet vendor and explaining that the pills never showed up, the vendor shipped another package to the man for free.

Around the time he had expected the second package to arrive, he said, one day “almost ten policemen were suddenly at my door with a search warrant.” He criticized the police for sending so many officers for someone who had ordered only five pills. According to his testimony, he cooperated with the police completely. They asked him about the drugs in his house and he handed over the five grams of marijuana and five grams of psychedelic mushrooms. “Two policemen would have been enough.”

A police spokesperson defended the official process. “A house search requires a certain number of emergency services to do all the work—It cannot be done without pairs” the spokesperson, Christoph Gnägi, told reporters. He continued, “thus, the residents have to be guarded while other officials searched the rooms.” Furthermore, “the whole thing should also be done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The 25-year-old said the entire event—from the knock on the door to the drive to the police station—caused him serious anxiety. He said that he had suffered from mental health problems for many years, but the event had made matters worse. “I’m scared of being home all the time and [I cringe] every time I hear the [doorbell] ring.” Leaving the house does not help, he said. He lives in a small town and everyone thinks he is a felon—even though he is not.

“I rarely consume but I will not let the police stop me.” Next time, he said, “I will simply order the pills from a Swiss supplier.” The first batch of pills came from the Netherlands. Not every first-time buyer knows that, for some countries, ordering from the Netherlands will often lead to a seizure by customs, at best. Ten officers knocking at your door over five pills—while better than kicking the door down—might be one of the worst-case scenarios.