Two Dutch Men Facing Possible Life in Prison After Selling Drugs at Hungarian Music Festival

Two Dutch men are facing the possibility of life in a Hungarian prison after being caught selling huge quantities of drugs at the Budapest music festival Sziget. 

UPDATE 11:52am: Multiple sources are now reporting that one of the men involved is well-known Dutch sprinter Roelf B, who represented the Netherlands in the European Championships Under 23’s last month.

EARLIER: The Dutch are often praised for their innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, but this is maybe taking it too far. The two ‘businessmen,’ aged 21 and 22, hauled in at least a kilo of ecstasy pills, 451 pre-run joints, and 128 grams of marijuana, reports RTL Nieuws. Quite the party, indeed – and one they were willing to share judging by the price lists also found.

A box with seized pre-turned joints
Enough weed for one Dutchie for one day? © Hungarian Police

Guards reportedly clued in to the illicit business when they noticed a steady stream of customers heading in and out of the tent. It was like magic: in goes the money, outcome the small packages. Didn’t take Einstein to figure that one out.

It appears the men did their market research, heading to the incredibly popular music festival alongside half-a-million potential customers from 100 countries.

But now they face the possibility of life in prison, according to Hungarian law. Their Dutch lawyers attempted to have their clients released on bail, but due to the quantity of the drugs, it was denied.

The police confiscated weed and xtc pills.
Not just for personal use. © Hungarian Police

The Netherlands may be liberal, and the Schengen area may be borderless, but we think these guys’ risk aversion strategy could use a little refining. Regardless, life in prison is maybe a little harsh so we’re hoping these young-guns learn their lesson in a much shorter way.

Clever business model or an incredibly stupid idea? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Feature Image: Sziget Music Festival from opethpainter on Flickr. CC 2.0.

Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺
Samantha Dixon 🇦🇺https://gallivantations.com
Sam has over six years experience writing about life in the Netherlands and leads the content team at DutchReview. She originally came to the Netherlands to study in 2016 and now holds a BA (Hons.) in Arts, a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and (almost) a Masters in Teaching. She loves to write about settling into life in the Netherlands, her city of Utrecht, learning Dutch, and jobs in the Netherlands — and she still can’t jump on the back of a moving bike (she's learning!).

3 COMMENTS

  1. Oh, these Hungarians, again. They’ve got the worst corruption index in the EU (https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018), they’ve got politicians who regularly violate the rule of law and get away with that, but if you ever try to sell a weed joint then you’ll spend your whole life in prison. Every Hungarian with a bit of brain and skills should leave that rotten sinking ship: they’re welcome here, the Netherlands have a longstanding tradition of hospitality towards those who escape jerk politicians and failing States.

    • well said bro as a Hun i agree, it might be safe in term of violent crimes but the authorities balance that with keeping us in fear. unless you are old or n alcoholic this country is not 4u the last place weed smokers wanna be is Hungary.

  2. It was not about selling a weed joint, it was about selling like 20 kg drugs to 20 thousands people, it was not that innocent kid prank, but pure drug business on industry level.. Corruption is high, but hidden corruption is everywhere, your praised former colonizing Netherlands is not an exception either, you just hide it better. If I go to abroad I do not take a smelly crap on the other country’s law, just because I am from a whatever country. In Asia they could have been sentenced to death with this quantity. But hey, I am pretty sure that judges will use common sense and will not sentence them to the maximum, but rather to the minimum 5 years, and probably they can leave the prison after 2-3 years. So as a summary, you are worried about corruption, but want the judges to ignore the law just because they are from the Netherlands? But if you just do not agree with the local laws, that is another story, maybe Hungarians do not agree with your liberal laws either. Anyway your nickname does not sound too “dutchy”.

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