Five arrests

Dealer wanted to swallow keys out of fear

The police were able to arrest five dealers in less than an hour (symbolic image).(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

They were dealing so brazenly on the street that neighbors had enough: they called the police. And they had an almost easy time of it in Linz, arresting five dealers from an entire gang in just one hour. One had several thousand euros with him, another wanted to save what could be saved - by trying to swallow a key.

The men in the Neue Heimat district of Linz were unabashedly dealing drugs in public. After neighbors had complained to the police, officers from the municipal police commando went to investigate and intervened after thirty minutes, during which they had observed several drug transfers by two People of Colour. When these men were joined by another and wanted to leave the scene of the crime in a public bus, they were stopped and subjected to an identity check. Cash and narcotics apparently originating from drug deals were found and seized. The three Nigerians were arrested.

"We sleep under the bridge"
The man who joined them at the end, who described himself as a "banker" and "collector" during his interrogation, had 5,100 euros from drug deals with him. All three stated that they had no accommodation and were sleeping on the street under a bridge.

Plan went wrong
However, the officers were aware of their accommodation, an apartment building in Linz. When they drove up to this residential property, they stopped a Nigerian man standing there and checked him. Suddenly the suspect reached into a pocket, took out a key and tried to swallow it. The police prevented this at the last second.

Confessed suspect
The officers used the key to open the apartment, where they found 200 grams of cocaine, ten grams of heroin and 200 grams of herbal cannabis. There was another Nigerian in the accommodation who was also arrested. The five people arrested, aged between 22 and 33, mostly confessed and were transferred to Linz prison by order of the Linz public prosecutor's office.