Once again, everything starts from Locride to reach Germany. And it is in Duisburg, a place sadly known for the 15th August massacre in 2007, that the latest operation – still to be developed – of the German Police in collaboration with the Italian authorities, involved in a flurry of searches also in Calabria, is concentrated. In the background names that come back, recurring shadows of ‘Ndrangheta families.
Little, so far, has transpired from Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Hilden, Erkrath, Meerbusch, Wuppertal and Weilerswist, the locations involved in the investigation into a vast international drug trafficking probably managed by Locride. «Six men of Italian, Albanian, Polish and Kosovar nationality were arrested for dealing in marijuana and cocaine», communicates the German Police.
With the support of special units, the task forces implemented search warrants during which a marijuana plantation complete with lamps, fans and transformers was also discovered.
Also checked inside a restaurant and various surrounding buildings, where investigators seized around half a million euros in cash, a fake driving licence, various international identity documents, a laptop, a tablet, six mobile phones and various documents. A gun was found in a safe. Other material and several mobile phones were seized in Calabria: everything, together with pendrives and hard disks, will be subjected to checks, starting from the chats contained in the smartphones.
“Today we have further illuminated criminal structures, gained important insights and made it more difficult for criminals to carry out their machinations,” summarizes Duisburg Police Chief Lilli Jahnke.
The work, of course, is far from over. Also because the probable involvement of historic ‘Ndrangheta families leads to very delicate leads. Several times in Duisburg and the surrounding area we have come across local branches of the ‘Ndrangheta based in San Luca but also branched out and operational in Germany. Tons of drugs imported from South America through the ports of Northern Europe but also of Gioia Tauro have become restaurants, bars and ice cream parlors in Germany, or companies in other parts of Europe, in the hands of criminal organisations.
Several times the reports of the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate have made a “map” of the presence of the ‘Ndrangheta in the German Lands: organized extensions – the known ones – are said to be present in Singen, Frankfurt, Radolfzell, Rilasingen, Ravensburg, Engen and Duisburg.
Already in 2021, the “Platinum-Dia” operation dismantled an organization that used Germany as a hub for international drug trafficking, with destinations in Italy and also involving criminal groups in Holland, Albania, Colombia and Brazil, revealing links with Romanian, Albanian, Colombian gangs and with Brazilian cartels. Other operations followed. But the chase for gangs capable of evolving and remaining in the shadows is increasingly complicated.