Main Perpetrator Zhang Dapeng of the German Chinese 'Old Driver's School' Group Date Rape Case Sentenced to 14 Years Imprisonment and Preventive Detention by Frankfurt Court

Between 2020 and 2024, a transnational criminal gang composed primarily of highly educated Chinese men residing in Germany and the Netherlands, established a secret group called 'German Old Driver's School' on the encrypted social platform Telegram own. They used female identities on social software such as WeChat and Xiaohongshu to post fake rental or help-seeking information to lure newly arrived Chinese female students and young women to private residences, secretly administering date rape drugs (such as GHB/GBL, sedatives, etc.) to commit sexual assault, and used slang like 'car', 'refueling', and 'dead pig' within the group to brag and communicate, recording and disseminating sexual violence imagery. In February 2026, the Frankfurt District Court issued a first-instance judgment against the main perpetrator Zhang Dapeng (who was an IT supervisor of a car company before the case), finding him guilty of 22 charges including attempted murder and especially severe rape, sentencing him to 14 years of imprisonment and additional preventive detention (security supervision). Other accomplices Jiang Zhongyi was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in Munich, Zhou Tong was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months in Berlin, and Shao Zhiting, who provided drug formula guidance, was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in July. This case, due to its heinous criminal methods and targeting of specific groups, caused a shock to the overseas Chinese community and directly pushed the German Federal Cabinet to pass a bill increasing the penalties for date rape crimes.