A 24-year-old man from Duffel has been sentenced to 120 hours of community service for selling drugs, specifically liquid THC.[1] He told the court he started dealing because he had built up large debts.[1] If he does not carry out the community service, or does it badly, he faces 12 months in prison instead.[1] The Mechelen criminal court also ordered the confiscation of almost 3,000 euros.[1]
Earlier this year police carried out a check in the Plankstraat in Mechelen, the street where the man was selling, after information that drugs were being traded by a bearded person.[1] Officers saw him leave a house three times for a short time and each time have a brief interaction with another person, prosecutor Margot Kennis said.[1] One of the suspected buyers was stopped and admitted he had bought THC liquid from the man, a liquid form of cannabis used through an e-cigarette.[1] Orders were placed through Snapchat, and the investigation found a whole organisation behind the trade, with telephone operators taking orders and dispatching couriers.[1] A search of the house found a quantity of cannabis, 134 bottles containing synthetic cannabinoid and 235 unused bottles.[1] Nearly 3,000 euros in cash was also found at the house.[1]
He was interviewed and admitted that he was steered through Snapchat, that he had been trading for only about a week and a half, and that he had already sold fifty bottles of liquid THC in that time.[1] His lawyer, Lennart Perdu, said he had confessed from his first interview and had taken responsibility.[1] The lawyer said his client was out of work, was himself a drug user, and was approached by people who suggested he sell liquid THC, which he then began selling from his grandparents’ home in Mechelen.[1] He has since found work, agreed an instalment plan with his insurer and is about to move in with his girlfriend, his lawyer said.[1]
