Seizure of hundreds of kilograms of drugs being smuggled into Austria
The drug enforcement police of the Landeskriminalamt Wien (Vienna State Criminal Police Office) managed to deal a strong blow to drug trafficking networks into Austria.
During the Easter period, several hundred kilograms of cannabis and two kilograms of cocaine were seized, hidden inside trucks in the state of Styria and Vienna.
Five men aged between 35 and 47 were arrested, while another suspect managed to escape. The thorough investigations conducted by the "AG Maghreb" unit since 2015 revealed that criminal groups from North Africa were importing drugs from the Balkans to Austria, through shipments hidden among legitimate goods such as food products.
On April 9, the first truck was stopped near the Spielfeld border crossing, and 141 kilograms of cannabis were found with the help of the police dog unit in Graz. A kilogram of cocaine was also discovered hidden in a makeshift manner inside the driver's cabin. The driver, a 47-year-old from Serbia, and his 38-year-old companion from Bosnia and Herzegovina were arrested.
According to investigators, this cocaine served as a "free sample" to showcase the quality of the goods to potential partners. Several police units participated in the operation, including the Hartberg and Graz West highway police, as well as the foreign police in Ilz and Spielfeld.
The police expected an additional shipment during the Easter holiday. On April 22, the second shipment arrived in the Favoriten district in Vienna, where the traffickers planned to transfer the drugs from the truck to a small transport vehicle. Despite the traffickers monitoring the site through escort vehicles, which complicated the surveillance task, the police, with the support of the DSE/EKO Cobra unit, managed to intervene and seize 241 kilograms of cannabis distributed across eight sports bags.
Three men from Montenegro, aged between 35 and 46, were arrested, while the truck driver fled. The police conducted raids in apartments in the Landstraße, Margareten, Favoriten, and Simmering districts, and found an additional kilogram of cocaine.
The police seized around 40,000 euros and a money counting machine. An investigation is currently underway to determine whether the arrested individuals are linked to Balkan mafia gangs such as Kavac or Vracar. So far, the suspects have remained silent during questioning.