Cologne Drug War: Four years in prison for aides of the torture kidnappers!

Cologne Drug War: Four years in prison for aides of the torture kidnappers!

A dark chapter in Cologne's drug war recently came to an end with a ruling by the Cologne Regional Court. The focus is on a 30-year-old Iraqi who was sentenced to four years in prison. This was reported by the daily news. The man confessed to playing a key role in a gruesome scenario in which a couple from the Ruhr area were brutally tortured to extort information about stolen cannabis. The background to the hostage-taking was the suspicion that the couple was involved in the robbery of 350 kilograms of cannabis.

The shocking details of the hostage-taking, which took place in July 2024, were documented by video footage showing the couple's abuse in the basement of a villa in Rodenkirchen. Although the convict was not directly involved in the torture, he pleaded guilty to helping the perpetrators by depositing weapons and money. The public prosecutor's office had originally asked for a sentence of five and a half years, but the judges opted for a more lenient sentence.

Further trials in the drug complex

The Cologne judiciary is facing a wave of drug crimes, which has also resulted in a current indictment against three other men. They are on trial for the robbery of 700 kilograms of marijuana and taking hostages. The incidents spanned the entire Rhineland and were accompanied by a series of explosive attacks and shootings at residential buildings, stoking fear among the population. According to information from ZDF today The security precautions for these processes have been increased accordingly.

A particularly conspicuous defendant is Aymen G., a 22-year-old German-Algerian who, together with accomplices, tied up and mistreated their opponents during a robbery. The judiciary sees not only the offenses of aggravated robbery and deprivation of liberty, but also aiding and abetting the illegal cannabis trade.

Drug crime in Germany

These criminal activities are not an isolated case. The Statista According to this, around 347,000 cases of drug crime were registered in Germany in 2023 alone, an increase of two percent compared to the previous year. Cannabis, which has been at least partially legalized since April 2024, accounted for over 90 percent of the cases. Given these developments, the illicit drug trade remains a significant public safety and health problem.

The dramatic incidents in Cologne reflect the challenges facing law enforcement authorities. The arrests of a total of 23 people, which took place in January 2025 in connection with Cologne drug gangs, were rated as an outstanding success by police chief Michael Esser. These developments show that drug-related crime is not just a local problem, but a societal problem that affects the security situation for many people in the region.