Overview
- The 24-year-old Sermet A. and 25-year-old Khedir H. appeared before the Cologne Regional Court under tight security on charges including large-scale drug trafficking, kidnappings, dangerous bodily harm and instigating bomb attacks.
- Prosecutors attribute five explosions in Cologne, Engelskirchen and Duisburg to the group and cite the torture of a Bochum couple allegedly abducted to recover stolen drugs or extract a seven-figure payment.
- Investigators say the violence followed the theft of about 350 kilograms of marijuana from a Hürth warehouse, with hired Dutch perpetrators used as crime-as-a-service enforcers.
- The court planned roughly 39 hearing days through mid-2026, and a 300-plus-page indictment outlines 35 alleged offenses with extensive witness testimony, while both defendants remained silent at the opening.
- Authorities report about 90 suspects under investigation and 21 convictions so far, noting that Sermet A. was arrested during a 2024 stopover at Paris Charles de Gaulle and later extradited to Germany.