Organized crime: crackdown on organized arms and drug trafficking

In North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, police operations against organized arms and drug trafficking have been underway since early morning. Special police units were involved, the public prosecutor's office and the Cologne police said. The searches began at 6 a.m. Among other things, there will be operations in the greater Cologne-Mülheim area.

The police did not provide any further details about the locations. The Cologne police headquarters and the Federal Criminal Police Office in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate are involved in the measures, it said.

Suspicion of organized crime

The background is investigations pending at the Cologne public prosecutor's office and the central and contact point for the prosecution of organized crimes in North Rhine-Westphalia (ZeOS NRW) on suspicion of organized arms and drug trafficking.

It was said that the operational measures would probably take even longer. The public prosecutor's office and the Cologne police therefore do not want to report on the operation and status of the investigation pending in Cologne in a press conference on Friday at 11 a.m. at the Cologne police headquarters.