Process for 2.3 tons of untaxed hookah tobacco

Five men, who are attributed to a German-Arab family clan, have to answer to a court in Düsseldorf for 2.3 tons of untaxed shisha tobacco. The trial at the district court begins this Wednesday (2 p.m.).

The public prosecutor accuses the accused from Solingen of gang and commercial tax evasion and tax evasion. The men are between 37 and 50 years old and are attributed to the Essen al-Zein clan. Between March 2016 and July 2018, they are said to have manufactured and packaged untaxed hookah tobacco in a professionally equipped factory building and then sold it to various customers nationwide and in other European countries under a fake brand name.

During a raid in several cities in July 2018, 2.3 tons of water pipe tobacco, 550 kilograms of raw tobacco, machines, five high-quality cars and cash were seized.

The public prosecutor emphasized that the accused have nothing to do with the Leverkusen branch of the al-Zein clan, whose members have also had to answer to the district court in Düsseldorf for months.