Drug war in Cologne: hostage -taking and killer command on the dock!

Im Kölner Drogenkrieg steht Botan I. vor Gericht: Verstoß gegen das Waffengesetz und Geiselnahme im Fokus des Prozesses.
In the Cologne war war, Botan I. is in court: violation of the weapons law and hostage -taking in the focus of the process. (Symbolbild/MK)

Drug war in Cologne: hostage -taking and killer command on the dock!

Rodenkirchen, Deutschland - The trial against 30-year-old Botan I started today in the Cologne district court. He is accused of serious offenses, including violations of the weapons law and aid for the hostage -taking. This case is part of the shocking drug war in the region, which has caused excitement both nationwide and locally in the past few months. The actors of the drug milieus emerged not only by explosions and robberies, but also by a spectacular hostage -taking that was a shock for many, like many t-online.de reported.

A police witness came to the witnesses during the trial and gave insights into the activities of the group. The statements by Fauzi K., a member of the gang that were behind the kidnapping of a couple from the Ruhr area, were particularly explosive. According to his statement, 250,000 euros in cash was brought to Botan's IS apartment in order to handle a variety of illegal shops with the means. Before the police's eyes, the money was counted with a counting machine before it was finally left behind as a deposit in the apartment.

The killer command in drug milieu

The Politzei continued to determine that Botan I was obviously involved in the handover of three guns ready for fire, which were passed on to a “killer command” from the Netherlands a few hours after the money transfer. These men, which were referred to by Fauzi K. as "Shooter 1, 2 and 3", are suspected of being responsible for brutal acts of violence as part of the drug war. Their charges include hostage-consumption and dangerous bodily harm, and processes are already underway against these, as [wdr] (https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/drogenMillieu- processes-koeln-100.html) reports.

parallel to the negotiation against Botan I. There are other procedures, all of which draw a picture of the confused and violent environment of the Cologne drug milieus. This also includes the remarkable events around 700 kg cannabis that were stolen in Hürth and which underpin these brutal reactions. The decline in a peaceful argument is dangerous, because the reactions to this theft led to kidnapping and increased violence in the drug milieu.

drug offenses in Germany

The drug war in Cologne is also reflected in the nationwide statistics. In 2023, around 347,000 drug crime cases were reported in Germany, which corresponds to an increase of 2 percent compared to the previous year. It is particularly striking that cannabis, despite its sometimes legal use since April 2024, is still the greatest challenge, since around 208,000 of the cases concern the consumption of cannabis. These developments are a serious sign of the persistent problem of drug crime in Germany, which contains society at various levels, such as Statista.

The situation in the Cologne drug landscape shows how tricky the network of organized crime is. And while the trial against Botan I continues, it remains to be seen which further revelations and complications will come to light that could further shape the image of the drug war in Cologne.

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OrtRodenkirchen, Deutschland
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