He is said to have sold more than 900 kilograms of drugs over the Internet from his children's room: On Monday, Maximilian S. made a comprehensive confession before the Leipzig district court.

The defendant, known as the "nursery" dealer, said he wasn't primarily concerned with the money.

He wanted to outdo others with his "shiny-flakes" internet platform: "The idea was to do everything better than others."

The 20-year-old defendant acted from his childhood bedroom, which was also a drug storage, office and distribution center and from which, according to the indictment, he is said to have traded hashish, ecstasy tablets, cocaine, LSD and prescription tablets on a large scale since the end of 2013.

In the district court on Monday, the accused gave detailed insights into technical processes, accounting and shipping and described how he managed to remain undiscovered for a long time.

Among other things, he was inspired by other virtual marketplaces and received help from an online acquaintance called “Red Bull”.

However, his motives remained rather vague on Monday.

In search of recognition

His client came across the so-called Darknet, a hidden, encrypted area of ​​the Internet, through various forums and was "fascinated by what was there," said S.'s defense attorney, Stefan Costabel.

"He was all about finding recognition on the internet."

According to the indictment, Maximilian S. initially used the Darknet for his business.

Most recently, he then sold the drugs over the openly accessible Internet - via the shiny-flakes.to platform.

To cover up the drug trade, S. rented servers in the Netherlands.

The drugs packed in letters or parcels were delivered by registered mail or to packing stations.

Payment was made exclusively with the virtual currency Bitcoins, so that no conclusions could be drawn about the parties involved.

The accused himself spoke of a "crazy idea".

After breaking off his apprenticeship in gastronomy "out of lack of interest" in March 2013, he spent a lot of time at home on the computer.

With around 2000 euros, he then entered the Internet drug business until sales spiraled higher and higher.

According to his defense attorney, he was last "16 hours a day" busy weighing, packing and shipping the drugs.

The investigators estimate the sales proceeds at a total of around four million euros.

Even when "Red Bull" jumped out of business in the meantime and S. found out about his arrest earlier this year, that couldn't stop him.

He hardly thought about the fact that he could be caught himself.

"Since I don't like things done by halves, I kept going," said the young man, who describes himself as a perfectionist and kept grinning during his statement.

When the police arrested Maximilian S. in February of this year, they found his childhood room stuffed with more than 300 kilos of drugs.

He is said to have sold a total of 914 kilograms of drugs.

S. said he didn't afford more than the "daily bread".

The verdict is expected to be made in early October.