Suspected German crime boss arrested after three-year investigation

German police have arrested the alleged leader of a multimillion-euro international drug trafficking operation following a three-year investigation, authorities said Sunday.

The 34-year-old German is now in custody after being arrested at his home in western Germany, a Düsseldorf police spokesperson confirmed.

Investigators believe the gang imported at least 12 tonnes of cocaine from South America with an alleged value of around 100 million euros ($118 million) over several years.

The Sunday edition of tabloid Bild reports that 16 properties were raided during the operation and that luxury goods worth almost €800,000 were seized from the accused smuggler’s villa.

In addition, property worth almost 15 million euros was confiscated from the man’s relatives.

The suspect was arrested Tuesday morning by a special police group after a three-year investigation. Four previously unarrested accomplices also operated in Serbia, Canada and Montenegro.

“The asset seizures numbering in the millions are not a coincidence, but the result of hard and careful investigative work,” North Rhine-Westphalia state Interior Minister Herbert Reul told the newspaper.

“We hit the big fish where it hurts: their money, their property, their freedom.”