Serbuhan G. was facing a charge of possession of marijuana after being caught in possession of 14 bags of the banned substance in March, the Hannoversche Zeitung (HZ) reported last week.

Nonetheless, the 22-year-old still decided to attend his court hearing with a bag of weed hidden in his sock.

During proceedings Judge Koray Freudenberg smelled something unusual in the air and asked the defendant whether he was carrying drugs. Serbuhan G. denied the accusation, but that didn't convince Judge Freundenberg, who asked a police officer to search him. 

The nearest officer at hand was the same one who had searched him in March – he was giving testimony at the trial. And just as in March, the officers found the drugs stowed away in Serbuhan G.'s sock.

Judge Freudenberg issued a €1,800 fine for the first offence, while Serbuhan G. can expect to attend court again shortly over his second misdemeanour.

It wasn’t the first time that Judge Freudenberg’s nose had helped him detect a weed-related crime. Roughly a year ago he was present at a police control when he noticed a young man walking down the street carrying a large rucksack. His nostrils started quivering on that occasion too. And after an officer searched the man, he was indeed found to be in possession of grass.

“I’m something of a serial offender,” the judge told the HZ. He explained his sensitivity to the smell of marijuana as the result of training with narcotics during his time as a prosecutor, rather than the consequence of a misspent youth.