German pizzeria caught as cocaine hub • “The approach was new to us”
The cocaine was sold at the pizzeria in Düsseldorf’s old town using an unusual method. When a customer ordered pizza number 40 on the menu, the person was also given a small package of cocaine as a side dish.
– This approach was new to us and also surprising because the pizzeria owner was not previously suspected of drug crimes, says police chief Michael Graf von Moltke to Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
Planned to flee the country
The pizzeria owner was already arrested at the end of August. But when the arrest warrant for him was initially withdrawn by the investigators, the man was only able to open the pizzeria again two days after the crackdown and continue his criminal activities.
When the man eventually planned to sell the pizzeria in order to flee to his native Croatia, he was again detained at the request of the prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf.
Led to greater effort
The crackdown on the pizzeria allowed the police authority in Düsseldorf to carry out a larger operation with 150 police officers in 16 locations in several cities in the region in October. In Mönchengladbach and Solingen, cannabis plantations with nearly 300 plants were discovered and cash, valuable watches and stabbing weapons were also seized.
Three men were arrested after the operation, and the police had to use special forces as several of the suspects were active martial artists. The network’s leader is said to be a 22-year-old man from Düsseldorf, known to the police from before.
The network allegedly ran an extensive drug trade and was ruthless in its methods. Among other things, the group allegedly robbed, kidnapped and blackmailed competing drug dealers.