Prosecutors can link another 3 deaths to drugs bought from Funcaps, bringing total to 21

Thursday, 20 August 2026 - 12:00

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) believes it has enough evidence to prove that another three people died due to substances they bought on the website Funcaps, the OM said during a preliminary hearing against the site’s three owners on Thursday. That brings the total number of deaths to 21.

The OM is still investigating another two deaths, so the total number of deaths caused by Funcaps substances could increase to 23. The Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) is still busy with the toxicological investigation into those two deaths. The results should be available by September 18, the prosecutor said at the hearing, NU.nl reported.

Suspects Jord van W. (32), Rens van W. (34), and Stefan P. (30) are charged with selling medicines without the proper permits starting in July 2020. The company generated €42 million in revenue over a period of five years by illegally selling medicines including sleeping pills and tranquilizers, counterfeit medicines, and illegal designer drugs, the OM said.

According to the OM, the suspects did not sufficiently warn buyers about the risks of using the substances, which could include death if the dosage was incorrect.

In April, a Belgian court sentenced two of the suspects to three years in prison, half of which was suspended, for the large-scale sale of designer drugs in the country and involvement in the death of a 44-year-old Belgian man. He died after overdosing on a designer drug he had bought from their website.