Dealer ring busted

In a concerted operation, the Oberhausen police, in cooperation with the Duisburg public prosecutor's office, searched more than a dozen residential and business premises in Oberhausen, Bottrop, Velbert, Tönisvorst, Rheurdt, Duisburg, Neukirchen-Vluyn and Xanten as well as the Bavarian towns of Bobingen and Königsbrunn in the early hours of April 25, 2023.

Since the end of last year, the Oberhausen narcotics investigators had gathered numerous pieces of evidence and clues for a swarming trade in cocaine, hashish, marijuana and ecstasy pills from over a dozen suspects acting together and in coordination in an elaborate investigation.

At the request of the Duisburg public prosecutor's office, the Duisburg district court issued five arrest warrants and numerous search warrants on suspicion of dealing in narcotics in not small quantities and importing narcotics in not small quantities.

With strong support from the police authorities involved in NRW and Bavaria as well as special task forces, the investigators executed the warrants.

In Velbert, a plantation with a total of around 1,700 marijuana plants was found and seized. A suspected plantation in Bottrop had already been dismantled on the day of the operation. Extensive equipment for cultivation and further utilization was seized here. In the course of the searches, around 1.2 kg of cocaine, 8.5 kg of marijuana, 200 g of amphetamine, 30 ecstasy tablets and 50 ml of morphine were seized. Also seized were a live firearm, cartridges, cash in a five-figure sum, a safe and several vehicles.

Five arrest warrants were also executed against the main male perpetrators, aged between 26 and 43 (of German, Greek and Albanian descent). In addition, 19 people were provisionally arrested for various reasons, including violation of the right of residence, and treated for identification purposes.

The investigation is ongoing and the evidence seized will be analyzed in the coming weeks.