Drugs
Investigators report record cocaine find
More and more cocaine is coming to Germany in containers from South America. Photo
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
After finding the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Germany in one go, investigators now want to release details of the case.
After securing the largest quantity to date Cocaine in Germany: Investigators want to announce details of the case in Düsseldorf today. Drug investigators seized a record amount worth several billion euros in the port of Hamburg last year. It is said to be 35 tons.
Months of investigation followed, and then a few days ago searches in seven federal states and seven arrests. The “OP Plexus” investigation was conducted by the Central Office for Organized Crime at the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hesse and Lower Saxony, officials were deployed to carry out a raid in connection with the cocaine find.
Investigation procedure “OP Plexus”
In North Rhine-Westphalia, officials struck in Bonn, Cologne, Leverkusen and in Wachtberg in the Rhein-Sieg district; in Bavaria it was Munich; in Hesse they appeared in Frankfurt. In Brandenburg, searches were carried out in the Märkisch-Oderland district; in Lower Saxony, in the Heidekreis district.
The authorities now plan to provide further details about the “OP Plexus” investigation and the results of the searches at a press conference, which NRW Justice Minister Benjamin Limbach (Greens) will also attend.
In recent years, more and more cocaine has been seized in the port of Hamburg. A particularly spectacular find was made in February 2021: Customs investigators discovered more than 16 tons of drugs in five containers from Paraguay in one fell swoop – according to official figures, this was the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Europe at the time.
Amount of seized drugs increased sevenfold
For comparison: The total amount of cocaine seized by German authorities in 2019 was a good ten tons. Overall, the amount of drugs seized increased sevenfold between 2018 and 2023, the Federal Criminal Police Office announced.
More and more cocaine is coming to Germany in containers from South America. The amount of cocaine seized in the port of Hamburg has tripled in the last five years, the Hamburg Senate announced in May. It is still unclear whether the record find has already been counted.