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12. 06. 12. - 13:00

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12. 06. 12. - 13:00

Rape Drug Use Growing

Michael Leidig

Austrian border guards have raised the alarm after saying they are powerless to stop the growing problem where people are importing knockout drugs over the Internet.

EU membership includes the free distribution of goods and because the knockout drugs are not illegal in some countries, Austrian officials are not allowed to stop them being delivered.

The drugs which contain the substance GBL are colourless, tasteless and odourless and in addition are only identifiable in the human body a short while after they are administered.

Only recently Salzburg had Austria's first case where the drops had been used on a teenage girl by the owner of a local club. She turned up the next day at her parents' home in a taxi, and they instantly took her to the hospital where the presence of the knockout drugs was identified – and the club owner was taken to court.

But it is the first and only case so far in Austria, because of the difficulty in proving that the drug has been used.

In the last four months alone 30 litres of the drug have been delivered in tiny bottles to various addresses in Switzerland - enough to drug 12,000 people.

In Austria's most westerly province of Vorarlberg border guards have started to work together with Swiss colleagues checking parcels between the two countries as Switzerland is not a full EU member.

And they warn that this is only a drop in the ocean in the total amount that is probably being delivered by post, but which they are unable to check if it comes from another EU country.

Spokesman Franz Fuechsl said GBL is freely available in countries like Holland or Poland and when posted to Austria there was no way to stop it.

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