Couple busted

Couple with 26 kilos of “weed” pulled out of traffic

Shortly after the border, the handcuffs clicked for a Serbian couple on the southern highway near Arnoldstein recently: The trunk of their car was full of herbal cannabis and cannabis resin.  

Bad luck for the Serbian couple - they were in the wrong place at the wrong time: on their way from Italy to Austria, the smugglers crossed paths with the experienced plainclothes officers of the Villach highway police. The targeted car was literally pulled out of traffic at the Arnoldstein checkpoint after entering the country on the southern highway - and closely scrutinized.

And the detectives had the right nose: no less than 26 kilos of cannabis were hidden in the vehicle. Specifically, the couple had hidden 16 kg of herbal cannabis in plastic bags in the trunk and ten kilograms of shrink-wrapped cannabis resin in the spare wheel well. The street value of the intercepted drug delivery: around 200,000 euros.

The suspected smugglers were arrested on the spot and subsequently taken to Klagenfurt prison. As it turned out, the two suspects probably belong to a drug gang operating throughout Europe. Further investigations - also in other federal states - are still ongoing.

Drugs in a Tupperware box on the passenger seat
Meanwhile, a patrol from the Klagenfurt freeway police also stopped a driver on the "Süd" motorway at the West junction due to his "conspicuous driving behavior". The 19-year-old was presumably intoxicated - there was also a Tupperbox with several packaged plastic bags full of cannabis on the passenger seat.