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Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP
Investigators have confiscated a record amount of 700 kilograms of heroin in the port of Hamburg.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Dresden public prosecutor announced that it was the largest quantity of this drug ever seized in Germany.
According to this, five suspects were arrested against whom investigations are being carried out on suspicion of importing narcotics in large quantities by gangs.
The men are said to have smuggled heroin from Iran to Germany on a large scale in order to distribute it from here throughout Europe.
The Dresden public prosecutor's office took over the proceedings from the Wiesbaden public prosecutor's office because the greater Dresden area is said to be a major hub for the heroin.
Laptops, data carriers and mobile phones secured
During a search of a shipping container at the end of August, officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office and the customs and police authorities in Hamburg confiscated the drug.
A total of ten apartments and commercial premises in and around Dresden, in the Chemnitz area, in Hamburg and in the Netherlands were searched on the night of Friday and during the course of the day.
Among other things, the investigators confiscated written documents, laptops, data carriers and smartphones as well as several vehicles and assets.
The BKA spoke of a "large number of forces" that had been deployed.
arrests across Europe
Arrest warrants were executed against four urgent suspects between the ages of 35 and 54.
They are a Turkish-Serbian, an Iranian, a German and a Turkish citizen, it said.
One suspect each was arrested in Germany and Spain, and two others were arrested in the Netherlands.
During the operation, another co-accused was provisionally arrested in Germany.
Investigators said further investigations into the case could take a long time.
fek/AFP
