Overview

• German federal police arrested the 44-year-old at Düsseldorf Airport on August 12 on suspicion of smuggling over 800 kilograms of heroin from Turkey into the Schengen area during seven runs in 2020–2021.
• Investigators say he relied on a transport chain set up by a 48-year-old Bulgarian suspect who was detained in Serbia in late June and accused of moving more than 1.2 tonnes of cocaine and heroin.
• The suspect appeared before a Düsseldorf magistrate and has since been remanded into Untersuchungshaft, or pretrial detention, in Germany.
• The alleged network organizer remains in provisional extradition custody in Serbia as the Bundeskriminalamt and the Frankfurt Generalstaatsanwaltschaft coordinate legal steps to transfer him to Germany.
• Authorities highlight that the case underscores the professional logistics of transnational narcotics trafficking and the critical role of cross-border cooperation in dismantling organized crime networks.