Berlin: Police Crush 'Cocaine Delivery Service'
Police in Berlin raided numerous "objects" today while fighting an alleged organized crime gang. As many as nine individuals were arrested in connection with the 'cocaine delivery service' they are suspected of running.
Berlin's State Office of Criminal Investigations dealt a rather heavy blow to those who deal with blow, also known as cocaine. In cooperation with the Berlin prosecution, police searched 36 locations, meaning businesses and apartments. Nine suspects were arrested.
Substances in High Quantities
Ahead of the operation which had commenced early on Thursday morning, "intensive investigations" had been performed against the gang due to the suspicion of trade with forbidden substances in high quantities. The suspects are between 16 and 36 years old. Their 'delivery service' is said to have supplied some 850 customers with illegal drugs.
The Berlin police also confiscated eleven vehicles, cash as well as "utensils used in trade". After their arrest, the suspects were supposed to be brought to a judge who was going to read the arrest warrants to them. Their details were not announced. With today's operation, the authorities in the German capital seems to have hit a suspected family clan.
"We are fighting crime committed by clans on all levels,", Berlin's Senator of the Interior, Andreas Geisel, said. "Today's action against drug dealing is proof for the fact that the cooperation between the police and the judiciary is good." Geisel thanked everyone involved at both the State Office of Criminal Investigations and the prosecution.
Clear Message to Clans and Public
With the operation, a clear message had been sent, the Senator stated. "The fight against criminal clans is continuing." Geisel, a Social Democrat, intensified the fight against mostly Arab family clans in Berlin in 2018. In November of 2019, an international conference about the fight against organized crime and clans took place in Berlin.
More than once, Andreas Geisel has stressed he wanted to "hit the clans where it hurts". In 2019 alone, 77 real estate objects owned by organized gangs of this kind were confiscated. Last year, almost one police operation per day was conducted against family clans. Berlin's police chief Barbara Slowik had recently said a lot of cocaine was being brought to Berlin.
In several of Berlin's districts, police keep on shutting down Shisha bars, gambling halls and other businesses. By stopping male drivers of expensive and loud vehicles on the streets of Berlin, they have caught members of those crime groups too.
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