Suspected German crime boss arrested after three-year investigation

Police in Germany arrested the suspected head of an international multimillion euro drug smuggling operation following a three-year investigation, authorities said on Sunday.

The 34-year-old German man is now in custody after being arrested at his home in western Germany, a Dusseldorf police spokesman confirmed.

Investigators believe the gang imported at least 12 tons of cocaine with a suspected value of around €100 million ($118 million) from South America over several years.

The Sunday edition of the Bild tabloid reported that 16 properties were searched during the operation, and luxury goods worth almost €800,000 were seized in the villa of the accused smuggler.

In addition, properties worth almost €15 million were confiscated from close relatives of the man.

The suspect was arrested last Tuesday morning by a special police task force after a three-year investigation. Four previously uncaught accomplices had also been operating in Serbia, Canada and Montenegro.

“Asset seizures in the millions are no coincidence, but the result of hard, meticulous investigative work,” the Interior Minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul told the newspaper.

“We hit the big fish where it hurts – their money, their property, their freedom.”