Police officers from the German Special Task Force (SEK) freed a kidnapped couple from a villa in Cologne on Friday, who were believed to be linked to an ongoing drug gang feud.
A video obtained by the Bild newspaper showed the victims being severely abused and tortured. National media has reported the couple were members of the El-Zein clan, a prominent Lebanese mafia organization primarily based in Germany.
The SEK was able to arrest four armed suspected kidnappers.
The judiciary suspects a conflict between various organized crime groups. It is alleged that drugs went missing during a cocaine and cannabis deal between the El-Zein clan from North Rhine-Westphalia and the Dutch “Mocro Mafia”. According to Bild, the illegal goods are said to have a total value of around €9 million. The “Mocro Mafia” is a criminal gang of Moroccans based in the Netherlands, which is expanding its territory into Germany and causing tensions.
Recently, investigators in North Rhine-Westphalia have become increasingly aware of conflicts between criminal gangs. A week and a half ago, there were three bomb attacks on houses in Cologne-Mülheim and Buchheim over two nights. Windows and entrance areas were damaged, but no one was injured.
The following day, an explosive device made with black powder detonated outside a front door in Engelskirchen, followed two days later by one in Duisburg. Due to the similarity of the cases, investigators quickly suspected a connection.
In the meantime, suspicions have been confirmed that the attack in Solingen at the end of June was also linked to the drug war. There, a man from Eritrea had detonated an explosive device in front of the same house in which the now-freed El-Zein members were living. Several people were injured in the attack. The perpetrator died in the failed detonation.
According to police estimates, the so-called “Mocro Mafia” controls around a third of the entire European cocaine trade from the Netherlands. The contract killing of the well-known Dutch crime reporter Peter de Vries is also attributed to the gang.
