The German Business Cannabis Association
Mocro mafia” allegation refuted
Local “Kalk” drug gang responsible for Cologne’s violent excesses
©IM NRW/Ralph Sondermann
2024-11-28 | After months of intensive investigations, the Kalk drug gang is now at the center of incidents involving shootings, explosions and hostage-taking in Cologne. According to WDR and other media reports, the Dutch “Mocro Mafia” only played a marginal role, as confirmed by the public prosecutor’s office. So far, 35 suspects have been identified, 16 of whom are in custody. Investigators are seeing progress: there have been no explosions recently and the first indictments are due to be issued this winter.
There is no reliable evidence that criminal gangs from the Netherlands were the masterminds, radioköln reports. Rather, a drug gang from Kalk is probably behind it. According to the public prosecutor’s office, a total of 32 suspects are currently in custody or on remand, only three of them from the Netherlands.
The background is apparently the theft of 350 kilos of cannabis from one of the gang’s shipments. The perpetrators used brutal means to find the culprits, supported by serious criminals hired from the Netherlands.
NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) had criticized in the past that the partial legalization of cannabis would lead to the rise of the “mocro” mafia in NRW and would promote crime and drug use. Georg Wurth from the German Cannabis Association explains the issue in detail in the DHV News and also appeals to police union representatives and members (DPolG, GDP, BDK) that the claim is not based on any evidence.
The NRW Ministry of the Interior was unable to provide any reliable figures for the claim made by Reul. Likewise, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) currently sees no connection between decriminalization and the activities of Dutch gangs. The BKA confirmed this when asked by Zeit Online (we reported).
Despite the refutation of the basis of Reul’s claim, the CDU in the Bundestag recently took up the CanG during the current hour and linked the partial legalization of cannabis with the brutal gang wars and shootings in public spaces.
