Cocaine, corruption and bribes

After seizure in Hamburg of 16 tonnes of high-purity powder, state attorney is accused of being on payroll of gang he was supposed to be prosecuting.

Between 2018 and 2023 cocaine seizures rose by 750%, marking out Germany as another major European hub in the ever-expanding global trade. But the influx is not just ramping up addiction, it is also fuelling corruption in a country perceived as being one of the least corrupt in the world.

“We are seeing ​​an infiltration of the port infrastructure in Hamburg, bribing of police officers in exchange for information and lately a state attorney awaiting trial for [allegedly] leaking information to a cocaine trafficking network,” said Daniel Brombacher, who runs the Europe bureau at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

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