“Hitler Speed” crossing borders

Traffickers working the Czech border with Germany no longer handle beer and spirits, but methamphetamines. Different laws in the two countries complicate the job of the police.

Published on 18 April 2012 at 10:20

Asked for a gramme, he offers no less than five. Five grammes of “crystal” for two hundred euros. The young Asian with a baseball cap, maybe sixteen years old, is standing in front of his booth full of jeans and T-shirts in the West Bohemian town of Cheb (known as Eger to Germans). “You are German, yes? Come with me, there’s plenty more.”

On a huge parking area right next to a shopping centre is one of the so-called “Vietnamese markets” selling clothing, shoes and cigarettes that are popping up along the borders of the Czech Republic. But on this afternoon the row of booths, about a hundred metres long, is deserted, and the vendors are cooling their heels. The interest in pirated brands has apparently fallen off steeply. The demand for a substance that is still illegal in Germany, on the other hand, is gladly satisfied.

**This content has been removed under request of the copyright owner.**

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