Mafia trial in Düsseldorf interrupted
One of the largest Mafia lawsuits in Germany had to be interrupted. The mother of a defendant tested positive for the corona virus, so it will not continue in Düsseldorf until Friday at the earliest.
The defendant is currently not in prison and is said to have had contact with his mother. The man is in quarantine at home, his own test result is still pending.
Even if it should be negative, the Duisburg district court does not yet know whether the man will still have to remain isolated for the time being. It is therefore not yet certain whether the process can continue as planned on Friday.
Accusation: Members or supporters of the Calabrian mafia
14 alleged members or supporters of ' Ndrangheta are indicted before the Duisburg Regional Court . For security reasons, the trial has not taken place in Duisburg since Monday , but in the so-called " terror bunker ", a specially protected area of ​​the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
The defendants come from Duisburg, Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf , among others . Some of them are accused of forming and supporting a foreign criminal organization and drug trafficking in a gang. Others have to answer for commercial money laundering and violations of gun law.
Trigger: drug discovery in the Netherlands
Dutch customs officers found 80 kilograms of pure cocaine in an overseas container - addressed to a recipient in North Rhine-Westphalia. This was followed by an international investigation and finally the simultaneous storming of special units on shops and restaurants in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
Four tons of cocaine were seized on the so-called " Joint Action Day " in 2018, and 84 people were arrested. The money laundering is said to have taken place via " fake companies " in Germany.
The Italian defendants have so far been silent on the allegations. A total of 91 days of negotiations are scheduled for the process in Düsseldorf.
Status: October 12, 2020, 1:39 pm
https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/mafia-prozess-duesseldorf-start-100.html
