Curious coup in Lower Austria

Drugs in tennis ball thrown over prison wall

Judicial officers put a spanner in the works for the dealer (52).(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/Herbert Pfarrhofer, zVg)

The accused 52-year-old Lower Austrian filled the cut-up balls with cannabis resin and threw them over the prison wall of Hirtenberg Prison (Lower Austria). He wanted to supply a "friend". But the plan failed.

A few weeks ago, a young man was in the Vienna provincial court who wanted to free his companion from the prison in St. Pölten by throwing a rope over the prison wall that was tied to his car and then driving off. The prisoner actually made it onto the wall, but then the rope broke. On Monday, a drug dealer took his place in front of the judge in the "Landl" for a similarly creative action.

The accused before the start of the trial(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

According to the Vienna public prosecutor's office, the 52-year-old from Lower Austria dealt in a wide range of narcotics: cocaine, amphetamine, THC and cannabis. He apparently also wanted to supply inmates at Hirtenberg prison with the latter. "It was a false act of friendship," explained his lawyer Christian Werner at the trial.

He used a slingshot for dog toy balls to throw the drugs over the meter-high prison wall.

Rechtsanwalt Christian Werner verteidigte.

Bild: Klemens Groh

Explosive content: 106 grams of cannabis resin
"And a stupid one at that," added his confessed client, who had previously been convicted of drug offenses: "I helped finance my addiction with the sales."

How did he get the tennis balls over the meter-high prison wall? "He's not an athlete per se. So he used a slingshot for dog balls," says Werner.

The cannabis resin grams did not reach the recipient - the manipulated tennis balls were discovered by prison guards. The judge passes a lenient sentence for the man from Deutsch Wagram, who wants to undergo therapy after his release: 16 months in prison, not legally binding.