New trick of the godfathers

Well disguised: This is how cocaine comes to us in Europe

South America's mafia floods Europe with drugs via the port of Hamburg - record seizure of 135 kilos of cocaine in Europe!

South American cartels are at the forefront of the billion-dollar business with the narcotic drug. Germany, with its huge port of Hamburg, is the hub for smuggling drugs to Europe. The "poison" is delivered in shipping containers, concealed under legal cargo. And this is where the drug traffickers have a new, ingenious trick: powdered cocaine is pressed into wooden tiles or hidden between floorboards and transported inconspicuously across the sea.

It was only in January that the security authorities in Bolivia were able to stop a truck. It was carrying a load of wooden tiles from a decking company. Hidden inside: 8.8 tons of cocaine.

The cocaine was hidden in these wooden tiles.(Bild: AFP)

"Snow" secretly removed in port, cargo monitored
Drug investigators from the Lower Austrian Criminal Police Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office were also successful in Austria: in the course of "Operation Joker", a record 135 kilos of cocaine were seized in teakwood planks at the port of Hamburg.

The "snow" was secretly removed and the container was transported under surveillance from the port of Hamburg via freight train to Bratislava near the border. The seizure took place there. In addition, a laboratory for processing the drugs in southern Lower Austria was blown up.

One of the godfathers arrested in Bolivia.(Bild: AFP)

However, the "Joker" had already led to a huge police success two years ago in the summer. At that time, 60 assault rifles, an illegal arsenal of weapons and explosives as well as large sums of cash were seized.

The gang of 32 suspects from three countries was netted in a simultaneous Cobra commando operation in Austria, Hungary and Slovakia.

In the leading role of the real mafia thriller: a Slovakian couple who lived in the Danube metropolis. Their daughter, who was ten years old when she was arrested, was taken into the care of the youth welfare department.

The Serbian group that has now been broken up is even said to be responsible for smuggling more than 250 kilos of cocaine.

Gang boss wanted as serial robber for ten years
Four suspects were arrested in the cross-border operation - one of them had been wanted for ten years for ten mail robberies in Vienna. Further details are to be announced at a press conference on Friday.