Overview
- A 31-year-old and a 57-year-old Italian are on trial at the Landgericht Erfurt on charges of large-scale cocaine dealing and participation in a foreign criminal association.
- Prosecutors allege more than 40 kilograms of cocaine were traded from mid-2022 to February 2025, organized from Erfurt with a storage garage in Arnstadt.
- Both defendants initially declined to comment, and the older man may speak at the next hearing scheduled for March 24.
- The indictment links the younger defendant to the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, which Interpol and Germany’s BKA describe as a powerful network with direct ties to South American producers.
- MDR reports this is the first suspected 'Ndrangheta case to reach a court in East Germany, pointing to a possible shift from money laundering to direct distribution in the region.