Two suspects from an international drug trafficking ring were arrested in a raid in Frankfurt. The group is said to have used an encrypted platform to communicate - which apparently proved to be their downfall.

In a raid against an international drug trafficking ring, police arrested a 50-year-old Ukrainian and a 37-year-old man from North Macedonia in Frankfurt on Tuesday morning.

According to the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office, cash, safes and money counting machines were seized during the search of an apartment building in the Westend district. There is a suspicion that money “from drug trafficking was managed and stored” there.

Cooperation with police in Croatia

The police didn’t just strike in Frankfurt – also in Rhineland-Palatinate and Croatia. In Germany, 80 police officers were deployed under the direction of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office. There was close cooperation with a Croatian police unit to combat organized crime.

The operation is aimed at a total of ten defendants between the ages of 36 and 56. Around six kilos of cocaine and 200,000 euros in cash were also found during the searches

The group is said to have sold several hundred kilos of cocaine annually in the Rhine-Main area and neighboring states since 2020. The goods are said to come from wholesalers in northern Germany and the Benelux countries.

The drug traffickers are said to have equipped at least 19 vehicles with smuggling hideouts to distribute the drugs. At least 13 drivers are said to have transported the goods. The money and cocaine were hidden in several so-called bunker apartments in the Frankfurt city area, such as the apartment building in Westend.

This is not the first time that the suspected drug traffickers have been in the focus of the authorities. Several participants in the international network were arrested as early as October 2023. Several cell phones were also confiscated.

Dealers develop “Fake WhatsApp”
These were evaluated and it was suspected that the men had developed their own encrypted messenger service, which was externally disguised as “WhatsApp”. The network is said to have specifically distributed mobile phones to members and business partners to use this “fake WhatsApp”.

Monitoring the encrypted messages quickly raised suspicions that the network was continuing to move cocaine despite the arrests a year ago. A courier driver with four kilos of cocaine is said to have been on the road just a few days after the arrests – and was also caught.

Nine suspects are still at large
The identities of nine of the ten suspects targeted in Tuesday’s raid were still unknown last year. They are said to have been involved in drug deals totaling 133 kilos of cocaine in September and October 2023.

With Tuesday’s six arrests, 24 of 33 accused members of the drug trafficking ring are now in custody, according to the Attorney General’s Office.