# Prosecutors demand 10 years over illegal online pill shop

> The Public Prosecution Service (OM) wants long prison terms for two men from Breda over slaappillen.net, a website that sold fake medicines which could contain the dangerous opioid nitazene.

Society · published 2026-10-27 18:14 · https://nlnow.nl/a/prosecutors-seek-10-and-6-5-years-over-illegal-online-pill-shop/

The Openbaar Ministerie (OM) demands 10 years in prison for a 34-year-old man and 6.5 years for a 29-year-old man, both from Breda. Prosecutors suspect them of long-running involvement in selling illegal medicines and drugs through slaappillen.net. The Den Haag court will rule on 17 November.

The OM calls the site a professionally run multimillion-euro business. It was on the regular internet, not the dark web. It had customer support and sent orders by post with a tracking code. Pills sold as oxycodone could in fact contain nitazene, a very strong painkiller that is hard to dose and can easily cause an overdose.

The OM says neither man was behind the organisation, but both were crucial links. According to the OM, the 29-year-old ran a distribution centre from home for two and a half years. Police needed a truck to remove the stock of pills found there.

The 34-year-old worked at a postal company. According to the OM, from late October 2024 he collected orders and had them sent through the regular parcel network, so they reached customers across the country. Prosecutors also suspect him of involvement in importing 500 kilos of cocaine in August 2023. They believe he traded almost constantly in hard drugs until his arrest in September 2025.

The prosecutor said the men cannot hide behind not knowing exactly what the pills contained: "They knew they were dealing in illegal medicines and drugs." The defence lawyer of one suspect called his client "a glorified assembly-line worker" acting on others' orders. He said the OM's demands are exorbitant.

Police arrested three other men last week. They are suspected of being mainly responsible for the website and for many dozens of other sites selling illegal medicines and drugs.

## Background

- **OM (Openbaar Ministerie)**: The Public Prosecution Service, which decides whether suspects are prosecuted and brings criminal cases to court.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/