Police Arrest 19 People in Tyrol Drug-Trafficking Ring

Police Arrest 19 People in Tyrol Drug-Trafficking Ring

A photo of the results from a house search in Zagreb, where one individual was arrested. Photo: Florian Haun

 

Police have arrested 19 individuals in connection with a long-running drug trafficking ring in Tyrol, believed to have trafficked approximately 35 kilograms of cocaine and 120 kilograms of cannabis, officials said.

Seventeen people were detained in Tyrol, with two further arrests made in Styria and Croatia. The drugs are estimated to have a street value of around €4.5 million.

The investigation remains ongoing, with further suspects being sought. Katja Tersch, head of the regional criminal police office, stated that a total of 21 individuals are thought to be involved.

In September 2022, the criminal investigation department received a tip-off that a 39-year-old Bosnian in the Kufstein area of Tyrol was operating a “busy trade” in cocaine and cannabis, using an encrypted phone for communication, explained state police director Helmut Tomac. A year earlier, international cooperation had led to the seizure of a server in France containing data from an encrypted messaging service. With support from Europol and the Federal Criminal Police Office, 70,000 chat messages were analysed, eventually leading to the suspected drug dealers. The investigation had been “very complex,” noted the police chief.

Once the drugs were transported to Tyrol – primarily via Slovenia, Croatia, and northern Germany by car or lorry – they were swiftly sold on.

Kufstein has garnered attention in recent years due to high levels of cocaine detected through wastewater monitoring. Karl Kraus, commander of the Kufstein district police, reported a 21% rise in drug-related offences between 2022 and 2023. Tomac emphasised that the number of unreported cases is likely to be significant: “The more we investigate, the more comes to light.”

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