The details of the operation in which 35 and a half tons of cocaine was seized in Germany in June are becoming clearer. The findings in the investigation file also point to Turkey.
Following the announcement that 35.5 tons of cocaine with a market value of approximately 2 billion 600 million euros was seized in Germany in June, details about the operation have come to light. Investigation documents obtained by the German public broadcaster Südwestfunk (SWR) reveal that the international cocaine operation can be traced back to Turkey.
While 35.5 tons of cocaine, the largest amount ever seized in the country’s history, was destroyed under police protection, seven states were searched and seven suspects were arrested, including a truck driver, a port logistics expert, a Hamburg shipping company owner and a German businessman from North Rhine-Westphalia. Attention turned to the German businessman Simon F., 43, and the other suspects, Ümit D. and Mustafa E., 39. Ümit D. and Mustafa E. are of Turkish origin and live in Germany.
DW Turkish quoted Julius Sterzel of the Düsseldorf prosecutor’s office, who is leading the investigation, as saying that Simon F. “is suspected of having set up numerous fake companies for the purpose of importing cocaine.” For many years, the suspect had been establishing companies at frequent intervals in a completely legal manner and selling them legally to investors who wanted to set up a company but wanted to avoid the bureaucracy involved in setting up a company.
According to the records in the investigation file, German businessman Simon F. was in constant contact with Ümit D., who lived in Cologne and worked for the transport company his family founded in 2017. Ümit D., who belonged to a well-known Turkish family in the city, was also active in a local football club and, according to a friend, regularly attended the mosque.
After the incident, the company belonging to Ümit D.’s family filed for bankruptcy. According to the investigation file, the police also confiscated the Lamborghini, Ferrari and other expensive cars of Ümit D., who is still under arrest.
‘MUSTAFA E. WAS PICKING UP CONTAINERS’
According to the information in the file about the third main suspect, Mustafa E. from Hamburg, E. was picking up and unloading containers containing goods from South America at the port of Hamburg.
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS: According to the investigation file, the system worked as follows: Simon F. set up multiple companies to import food and construction materials. Ümit D. created websites for these companies and ordered goods from South America. Mustafa E. received the containers at the port. To conceal the cocaine smuggling, these companies initially shipped only legal goods.
The investigation file cited as an example the working system of a company founded by Simon F., abbreviated as B. S. Accordingly, 11 deliveries were made on behalf of this company from Ecuador. One of them contained cocaine. A drug-sniffing dog spotted the cocaine in the port of Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian coast and the Ecuadorian National Police released a video of the incident on X. The video showed about three tons of cocaine hidden in sacks of banana flour.
EUR 140,000 TRANSFERRED FROM A COMPANY IN TURKEY
Investigative documents obtained by SWR show that in previous months, about 140,000 euros were transferred from a company in Turkey to the accounts of the three suspects in Germany. Mustafa E. sent about 8,000 euros of the amount wired from Turkey to a large shipping company. It is presumed that the transfer was made to pay for the transportation of the alleged shipment of banana flour, which could not be realized because it was seized in Ecuador.
After Ecuadorian police contacted their German counterparts, the German authorities began to trace Simon F., the owner of the company in Germany. Meanwhile, despite the seizure of smuggled cocaine in Guayaquil, the suspects continued their smuggling activities.
In the summer of 2023, the security authorities received intelligence that containers with large quantities of cocaine were being shipped every few weeks.
On June 8, 2023, at noon, a person called Hamburg customs and provided the registration number of a container containing a large quantity of cocaine. The container had been sent to Ümit D.’s transportation company. However, because the tip-off came too late, the container had left the port and it was not determined what it contained.
‘EXPORT OF PURPLE SOAP’ BUILDS SUSPICION
The development that untied the dots occurred when Diran, the Colombian anti-drug authority, found the export of curd soap from Colombia to Germany suspicious. Finding it unreasonable to export curd soap from Colombia to Germany, the authorities searched the containers but found no drugs. The authorities nevertheless informed the German authorities. A company in Mannheim was named as the buyer of the curd soap. However, this company belonging to Simon F. only existed on paper.
LOOKING FOR CLUES IN TURKEY
Despite the seizure in Ecuador, new cocaine shipments were made to Europe in the summer of 2023. Eight tons of cocaine were seized in Rotterdam and 12 tons in Hamburg. According to the investigation documents, the security services had the network on their radar and were waiting for the drug deliveries.
A total of 9 containers of cocaine were seized. Julius Sterzel, spokesman for the Düsseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office, told SWR that with the arrests in Germany, the first phase of the operation was completed. “As part of the investigation, we have determined that some of the suspects may have been operating from Turkey,” Sterzel said, adding that they were in contact with various law enforcement agencies abroad, especially in Latin America.