Raid in the Rhein-Erft district
Cologne investigators succeed in striking money launderers on behalf of the mafia
From Jan Wördenweber
December 14, 2023, 10:38 a.m
Reading time 2 minutes
Masked emergency services stand in front of a house and cars.
The raid was aimed at suspected money launderers (symbolic photo).

Several arrest warrants were executed in the greater Cologne area in an operation against organized crime.

Seven residential and commercial premises in the greater Cologne area were searched in a raid on Thursday morning (December 14th). According to information from the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”, the action took place in the Rhein-Erft district. As the Cologne public prosecutor's office and police announced, three European arrest warrants and arrest warrants worth around 724,000 euros were executed. This means: According to the court order, the public prosecutor's office is allowed to secure assets of a maximum of 724,000 euros from the accused. This includes, for example, cash, but also material assets such as jewelry or vehicles.

The investigation, which has been running since 2019 and in which the Stuttgart customs investigation office is also involved, is directed against several Italian nationals. The three suspects, aged 29, 63 and 65, are accused of working as a gang to launder money from illegal drug deals run by the Camorra, based in the Naples area.


Greater Cologne area: Strike against money launderers from the Camorra environment
Since 2015, the accused are said to have purchased high-priced luxury vehicles in Germany on behalf of Italian citizens from the Camorra community in Italy with money that came from criminal transactions. As the authorities further announced, the vehicles were said to have been made available to the clients through an alleged car rental company owned by the accused and fictitious long-term rental contracts.

The fictitious rental agreements are also said to have been paid for with money from drug deals, illegal gambling and gang-related economic crimes by the Camorra in Italy. In this way, the investigators allege, the Camorra's funds were to be laundered. The car rental model is also said to have served to conceal the actual ownership of the vehicles. The vehicles, including motorcycles, were models from Audi, Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover, VW and Yamaha.