The noxious cloud hanging over Imhausen-Chemie keeps growing thicker. Under fire for its alleged complicity in the building of a poison-gas factory in Libya, the West German chemical company is besieged by criticism from its own employees, who fear their jobs will be lost unless President Jurgen Hippenstiel-Imhausen resigns. Two weeks ago Imhausen's second-in-command took a drug overdose in an apparent suicide attempt. Now comes news that the firm is involved in the illegal production and sale of MDMA, a designer drug commonly known as "ecstasy."
German prosecutors say Imhausen has supplied U.S. drug traffickers with 374 lbs. of MDMA, worth up to $27 million on the street. Two Americans and one Imhausen employee have been arrested. While Imhausen has admitted manufacturing the drug, company officials claim they were unaware the substance was illegal. Ironically, Imhausen could face stiffer penalties if convicted of breaking local narcotics laws than for helping a foreign country make deadly chemical weapons.