Up to 20 deaths linked to ‘end of life’ business that sourced veterinary drug through fake whale charity, police allege

Bottles of the euthanasia drug, called pentobarbitone, were found amid police investigations after the death of a 43-year-old man at his home on the Gold Coast in April, which a postmortem found had been caused by the veterinary drug. Photograph: Queensland police

Police have uncovered an alleged “end of life” business believed to be linked to as many as 20 deaths, with investigations across three states after a man died from a veterinary euthanasia drug.

Queensland police have charged a Gold Coast man alleged to have operated the business, Brett Daniel Taylor, with two counts of aiding suicide and several drug offences including trafficking dangerous drugs.