At a preliminary hearing in Zwolle on Thursday, Dutch prosecutors told the court they believe they can prove 18 people died after taking substances bought from the online drugs shop Funcaps. The public prosecution department (OM) added that four further deaths are still being examined.
The number has been shrinking. The OM had been looking into 58 deaths that might be tied to the site, and said it found too little hard evidence to link the rest.
The shop’s catalogue included bromazolam, a sedative, O-DSMT, an opioid painkiller, and 2F-ketamine, an anaesthetic. Prosecutors said buyers received no package inserts or instructions for use, and that the site promoted sales with discounts and sample packs.
Its Dutch owners, Jord van W (31) and Stefan P (30), started selling fake pills in Belgium during the pandemic. In prosecutors’ account, the two did not have a clear grasp of Belgian law or of exactly what they were selling, and they put the health risk on their customers. A Belgian appeal court has sentenced them to up to three years in prison, of which 18 months unconditional, for illegally trading in medicines and drugs. It also ordered fines and seizure of suspected proceeds. Belgium’s Court of Cassation now has that case.
In the Dutch case, the toll has swung up and down since the men first appeared in court in 2025. Prosecutors then said 27 people might have died. The figure climbed to 58 and has now come back to 18.
Funcaps is not alone. Dutch authorities are watching several other fake-medicine and designer-drug operations, and that trade has recently been linked in part to chemicals imported from India.
