Police arrest notorious neighborhood godfather Bashkim Osmani

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Bashkam Osmani: sentenced to several years in prison for infidelity (2008)

Photo: Jens Ressing / picture alliance / dpa

In an EU-wide raid on an alleged Albanian cocaine smuggling ring, the police arrested a total of 45 suspects in several countries on Tuesday - including the notorious Hamburg neighborhood godfather Bashkim Osmani.

He is said to be at the center of the smuggling operation.

The suspects are said to have imported cocaine from Latin America and dealt in it on a large scale.

The revenue is said to have been laundered in several EU countries, including Spain.

600 police officers involved - and the FBI

According to Europol, 600 police officers were involved in the operation.

You would have searched a total of 80 objects.

The campaign took place in parallel in Spain, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

According to SPIEGEL information, investigators in Germany searched several apartments in Hamburg and secured documents.

The reason was a request for legal assistance from the Spanish authorities, who have been investigating Osmani for years because of suspected drug deals on a large scale.

Osmani himself was arrested on a trip to Croatia.

In addition to national investigative authorities from EU countries, the British National Crime Agency and the US Federal Police FBI also took part in the operation.

Investigations into the group began in Spain in 2018 - the investigators made their breakthrough after the 2020 hack of the crypto chat provider Sky ECC, popular with criminals worldwide, which some of the suspects apparently used to conduct their business.

Bashkim Osmani was sentenced to several years in prison in 2008 for breach of trust

Bashkim Osmani came to Germany from Kosovo with several brothers at the end of the 1970s.

They quickly developed into one of the most dazzling families in the Hamburg neighborhood.

The eldest of the four brothers, Quazim, allegedly worked as a temporary driver at a used clothing collection, but was soon driving through Hamburg in a Ferrari.

The brothers are now said to have a corporate and real estate empire worth a three-digit million sum.

The authorities tried for years to get to the bottom of the wealth of the Ottomans, but for years they could not prove anything illegal.

It was not until 2008 that two of the brothers, Bashkim and Burim Osmani, were sentenced to several years in prison for infidelity.

The damage at that time had amounted to 27 million euros.

Bashkim Osmani then moved to Mallorca, where he has lived in a stately villa for years.

On the island he should also own a noble restaurant popular with celebrities.

A photo shows suspected cocaine smuggler Osmani with Hollywood star Nick Nolte and German actor Til Schweiger.

According to SPIEGEL information, Osmani's daughter even appeared on the big screen in 2007.

She got a supporting role in Schweiger's hit film "Keinohrhasen".

The actor has so far left unanswered a question from SPIEGEL about the relationship between Til Schweiger and Bashkim Osmani and how his daughter got involved in the film.