Large raids in Berlin: drug trafficking over Encrochat!

Large raids in Berlin: drug trafficking over Encrochat!

Today, the Berlin police again demonstrated the dangerous entanglements of drug trade in the capital in a large -scale campaign. At the request of the Berlin public prosecutor's office, there are several objects and arrested two suspects. These are a 52-year-old and his 32-year-old son who is suspected of having acted with narcotics between April and June 2020 via the "Encrochat" trade fair service. In particular, the shops around cannabis and cocaine revolved, with the investigators accused the introduction of at least 60 kilograms of hashish from Switzerland to Germany. The older man is also said to have intended in the kilogram area with cocaine, heroin, crystal meth and marijuana. [Cityreport] reports that the searches in an apartment in Westend and in a bar in Wilmersdorf and a family home took place in Heinersdorf.

In the raid, the officials ensured several important evidence. This includes money amounts in the five -digit range, about three kilograms of cannabis, 32 grams of cocaine and over a kilogram of a suspected narcotics substance. The investigators also found a package scale, fine scales and extensive records of dealer shops. A very special focus was on two safes, in one of them there was a not invited revolver and two PTB weapons with 50 rounds of ammunition. Surprisingly, the 32-year-old was not found during the mission. Both arrested suspects were released after a detection treatment, and the investigation continues.

background of the investigation

The present investigations are in the context of a comprehensive struggle against organized crime in Germany, which received significant boost from the hack of the KryptoBy provider Encrochat four years ago. This measure led to over 1,700 arrests and a huge data foundus that the police used to monitor drug dealers. Despite this success, however, it can be seen that the structures of organized crime could not be weakened sustainably. The loss of Encrochat led to a real vacuum in the scene, which results in new distribution fights, as a drug dealer reports. The Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also expressed itself optimistically, while the Hamburg interior senator Andy Grote emphasized that crime was re -sorted through the hack. [Tagesschau] informs that the crime statistics in Berlin in 2023 had an alarming maximum of violent crimes.

Another aspect that makes the situation complicated is the legal assessment of the evidence obtained. A court in Berlin recently decided that Encrochat data is not usable because they were obtained under non -constitutional conditions. The presiding judge found that the public prosecutor was not responsible for the collecting of the data and that it lacked sufficient evidence of the rightful use. [EKS] emphasizes that this questions the entire investigative strategy and brings essential challenges for the police.

Although the authorities take a number of measures to combat drug trafficking, there is hardly any progress in persecution of the backers. Rather, a query of your trust shows that most of the arrests in the area of the middlemen. The system change brings violent clashes, and for the future it remains uncertain what the security situation will look like in the affected cities.