Germany gripped by cocaine scandal

Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse initially dismissed the allegation

By Rob Broomby in Berlin

Germany's parliament has appointed a crisis team to look at rumours of drug-taking within the Reichstag building, the lower chamber.

The move followed an investigation by a tabloid TV station which detected samples of cocaine in 22 sets of toilets used by MPs.

Daum: Quit over drugs

The news comes just weeks after Christoph Daum, the man expected to lead the national football team, tested positive in a voluntary drugs test and quit the country.

The latest allegations surfaced when a team of investigators working for a satellite TV station detected minute traces of cocaine in the toilets of the German parliament.

Minute quantities

Out of 28 cubicles tested, 22 showed evidence of the drug, but in extremely minute quantities.

Analysis of swabs taken at the scene detected samples of around three micrograms of cocaine - but it was enough to prompt a leading newspaper to ask who was taking cocaine in the Reichstag.

The government's top drugs official, Christa Nickels, described the findings as "dubious".

The president of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse, initially dismissed the report as an unbelievable allegation, but has now ordered an investigation.

With journalists, invited guests and cleaners all having access to the area, it is hardly conclusive evidence.

Yet the expert who analysed the samples, Professor Fritz Soergel of the Institute of Biomedical Research in Nuremberg, stands by his findings.

But he said that the investigation of other public buildings, such as the Berlin Stock Exchange, had found cocaine traces at far higher levels - one of Berlin's leading hotels found over 30 times as much.

Public prosecutors in Berlin have asked to see the evidence assembled by the team.