Police break up suspected drug trafficking gang

Arrests - Police break up suspected drug trafficking gang

The police have dismantled an alleged drug dealing gang in South Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. Approximately 45 kilograms of drugs worth around 540,000 Euro were discovered during investigations of residential and business premises, a spokeswoman of the Customs Criminal Investigation Office in Frankfurt stated on Thursday.

Six men and three women, aged between 29 and 44, were arrested. Seven of them were taken into custody after their arrest on Wednesday. The two further suspects had to be presented to the remand judge yet, according to a joint statement by the Customs Criminal Investigation Office, the Hessian Criminal Police Office, and the Prosecutor's Office Darmstadt.

During the operation, buildings in Darmstadt as well as the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg, Bergstraße, Landau, and Südliche Weinstraße were searched. The investigators found, among other things, cocaine, amphetamines, and cannabis. In addition, they discovered firearms with ammunition and a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.

1. The drug dealing gang was operating across various business premises in Southern Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, including locations in Darmstadt and Wiesbaden.
2. Following the arrests, the police are now investigating the involvement of this gang in the drug trade in cities like Mainz and Frankfurt.
3. The operation in Rhineland-Palatinate also involved the police forces in cities like Landau and Ludwigshafen, according to the statement.
4. It's estimated that the dismantled gang was responsible for supplying a significant amount of drugs in the Rhine-Main area, causing concern about the rise of crime in these areas of Hesse.
5. The police are now analyzing the evidence found at the searched business premises in Darmstadt and other locations to build a strong case against these suspects.
6. The Central Office for the Suppression of Drug Trafficking (Zentralstelle zur Bekämpfung der Drogenkriminalität) in Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse are also involved in the investigation due to the cross-border nature of the drug dealing activities.

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