Drug wholesaler sentenced to 12 years in prison

His arrest was considered a major blow by the German investigative authorities against organized drug trafficking. Now the trial against a German drug wholesaler in Hamburg has come to an end. On Monday, the Hamburg regional court sentenced the 47-year-old defendant to twelve years and four months in prison.

The man was involved in the sale of one and a half tons of cocaine and around a ton of marijuana, the criminal court said, according to a court spokesman. The defendant's profits of almost 15.4 million euros are to be confiscated.

According to the conviction of the court, the man from Hamburg was the link between a drug gang and a cartel in South America. Together with accomplices, the 47-year-old smuggled empty containers out of the port, in which drugs were hidden. The gang also traded cocaine and marijuana from the Netherlands and Spain in Germany. In the largest single case, the accused sold 100 kilograms of cocaine in equal parts in Hamburg and Berlin.

The process began in February. After a long period of negotiation, those involved in the process agreed on a sentence of twelve to 13 years, said court spokesman Kai Wantzen. The accused then made a confession, but without naming names or details of structures.

The 47-year-old was sentenced to ten years in prison in September 2017 in Belgium for drug trafficking. The man, who is said to have last lived in the Duvenstedt district of Hamburg, was able to go into hiding and was only arrested in May 2021 in Bad Oeynhausen, Westphalia. According to media reports, the suspect is said to have undergone facial surgery to avoid investigators. The investigators are said to have tracked down the man via decrypted mobile phone messages. The clues came from the huge data set of the Encrochat investigations.

When he was arrested in the holiday home in North Rhine-Westphalia, the officers seized cash worth around 70,000 euros and 2,000 US dollars, gold bars, jewelry and several high-quality wristwatches. In addition, the police found 18 different, apparently forged identity documents with photos of the man.

The police had previously found several firearms in an apartment in Berlin that he had rented under a false name. This also led to a conviction for violating the Weapons Act. The verdict is not yet legally binding.