Police in three countries take on 'Frankfurt Mafia' drug ring | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.12.2010

Police in three countries take on 'Frankfurt Mafia' drug ring | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 24.12.2010: "joint operation involving Austrian, German and Macedonian police this week broke up a major drug ring in Central and Eastern Europe, resulting in dozens of arrests.

Authorities in Vienna on Thursday said police in Austria and Macedonia had conducted coordinated raids on Wednesday and arrested 29 people suspected of being gang ring-leaders. They said that since their coordinated effort began in 2007, police have made more than 300 arrests in Germany and 69 in Austria.

Officials said the gang is based in Macedonia and quickly took over the heroin trade in Frankfurt and Vienna by violently forcing out rival gangs. The ring has been dubbed the Frankfurt Mafia and is especially active in the German banking center and in the Austrian capital.

The cities are at the end of what the United Nations has called the 'Balkan Route,' along which heroin from Afghanistan is smuggled into Western Europe via Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and other Balkan countries before ending up on the streets of Western Europe's major cities."

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