The Chinese government said that a staff member of German car manufacturer Volkswagen recently arrested in China has been expelled from the country after testing positive for cocaine use.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a press conference that an executive from the German company spent ten days in detention in China before being deported for cocaine consumption.
On Monday, the German newspaper Bild reported that the marketing specialist and inventor of the internationally famous ‘Das Auto’ slogan for Volkswagen cars, Jochen Sengpiehl, had tested positive for drugs by Chinese police after a holiday in Thailand.
According to the Bild newspaper, Sengpiehl, who spent two years in the Asian country, tested positive for cannabis use.
The publication did not mention any tests for cocaine consumption.
The Chinese authorities sometimes randomly test passengers for drug use on arrival in China. Even if the consumption took place outside the country, a positive test is punishable by administrative detention for 15 days and, if a foreigner, deportation.
China, the German brand's main market, is considered to have the strictest drug control system in the world and the highest number of banned substances.
