North African immigrants have dominated the drug trade in the German capital since 2015. They do not shy away from brutal revenges and bloody murders. The police are fighting fiercely against the “Maghreb” gangs.
With the large wave of refugees from 2015, numerous Algerians and other North Africans also came to Vienna. And in the years that followed, they gradually took over the city’s drug trade. The Vienna police’s nine-member “Maghreb” working group is now battling hundreds, if not thousands, of dealers. Lieutenant Colonel Martin Bencza of the “Krone” also confirms that this is not without danger for the executive.
Machete Murder and Home Invasion
The gangs are increasingly ‘brazen’ against police officers, traitors in their own ranks or rival clans. Knife stabbings, assassination attempts and murders, such as the fatal machete attack in April in Brigittenau – in which a compatriot was chopped to pieces – prove. For example, it has only now become clear that a home burglary in January 2021 in Brigittenau by six men can also be attributed to the North Africans. A mysterious, fatal window fall in Ottakring in the summer of 2020 could also be attributed to the Algerians.
Intimidation videos of traitors and rivals
A horrific attack in February 2022, in which an alleged customer (32) who was sitting in a hair salon in Ottakring was stabbed, is a revenge act within the drug scene. The Algerians sometimes even videotape the bloody crimes to intimidate would-be traitors. According to Chief Inspector Gernot Kaes, head of the unit, these would like to be forwarded within the scene.
Photos are also posted with expensive cars, expensive clothes and drugs. The Viennese police managed to get a picture of the brutal gangs by tapping and observing telephones. It is not uncommon for tons of drugs to be trafficked in just a few days.
Partial successes are a drop in the ocean
The “Maghreb” working group, founded in 2016, has so far managed to arrest 1,001 people and seize 451 kilograms of marijuana, 51 kilograms of heroin, 4.5 tons of cocaine and nearly €342,000 in cash in Vienna. It seems like a drop on a glowing plate. Because new bunker apartments are being bought or rented all over the city and hundreds of kilos of narcotics are distributed to mostly Syrian or Afghan dealers.
In August last year, the boss of the gang, who is said to have repeatedly flown from France to Austria, was arrested in Lyon, France and sentenced to several years in prison. The “drug war” of the Algerians in our city continues unabated…
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
