2023-11-20 13:46:07
Published20. November 2023, 2:46 p.m
Carinthia: It was only an anonymous tip that stopped the innkeeper’s side business
Lucrative side business: An Austrian innkeeper dealt cocaine out of the kitchen and used the proceeds to treat himself to luxury items. Now he and his accomplices were exposed.
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Drugs, watches and cash seized after house searches in Carinthia.
LPD Carinthia
That’s what it’s about
There was a brisk drug trade in a bar in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
The landlord of the Villach pub is said to have sold at least 1.6 kilos of cocaine.
He and other defendants will be in court from Wednesday.
Court instead of a restaurant is now the order of the day for an innkeeper and four helpers from Villach in Carinthia: The 49-year-old is accused of forming a criminal organization in his restaurant. The Carinthian is said to have not only cooked in the kitchen, but also sold kilos of drugs, according to the indictment. The trial will now start on Wednesday at the Klagenfurt regional court, as Today.at reports.
The innkeeper is considered the alleged head of the gang – he is said to have obtained the cocaine himself or had it obtained through the second defendant (32). Every week, several deliveries are said to have arrived at the “drug kitchen” in the Villach restaurant. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the exceptionally pure cocaine was stored there and prepared for sale.
Take-away for drugs
The business became a take-away place for drugs and was often very busy. According to the “Kleine Zeitung”, witnesses report that around ten people marched straight into the kitchen one weekend and allegedly only spent a few minutes there. The defendants are said to have sold at least 1.7 kilos of cocaine. According to investigators, 160,000 euros were poured into the gang’s coffers – in reality it was probably much more. The suspects are said to have used the proceeds to buy luxury watches, gold coins, cryptocurrencies and an expensive sports car.
Anonymous tip stopped business
But the restaurateur probably didn’t just make friends with his side business. An anonymous complaint exposed the business last spring. Investigators stormed the restaurant and several apartments in April. Drugs, cutting agents, crypto stamps, gold coin collections and expensive Nobel watches were seized, among other things, as well as thousands of euros in cash. The local staff went to prison and a suspect was arrested in Vienna. He is said to have worked as a middleman in the drug trade. The man has now been transferred to Carinthia. All suspects are presumed innocent.
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(heute.at/Newsdesk)
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