The police dug up a drug ring in Vienna that has been planting cannabis on a large scale since 2016 and supplying customers in Burgenland, among others. The group was found out after drug investigators had started investigations into the buyers in Burgenland. Four suspects were arrested, they are said to have sold nine kilos of marijuana and 1.25 kilograms of speed to 30 consumers, mostly in Vienna, said the Interior Ministry on Saturday.
SN/APA/AFP/FABRICE COFFRINI
Cannabis flowers were the business model of a Viennese drug ring
Investigators struck with several house searches last summer. The friend of the main suspect and another member of the group had grown cannabis indoors at their home and residence addresses. The plantations were made more productive through the addition of gas and carbon dioxide. One suspect worked as a doorman in a youth hostel that housed another suspect and also had an indoor plantation.
The investigators seized, among other things, 107 hemp plants, 20 grams of cannabis products, nine grams of amphetamine and 23 grams of psychotropic mushrooms. The group is said to have planted 680 cannabis plants in several locations in Vienna and obtained around 17 kilograms of flowers from them. In addition, a suspect is said to have illegally collected more than 32,000 euros in emergency aid since 2016.
The Burgenland Task Force to Combat Street Crime (EGS), the Vienna Task Force Alarm Department (WEGA) and local agencies were involved in the police operation under the leadership of the Federal Criminal Police Office. “Every single success of an investigation is a great added value in order to smash criminal networks and prevent consequential damage. Whoever abuses social benefits cheats not only the state but all those who work and pay taxes every day – the Task Force Social Security Fraud is therefore vehemently against it and has this consistency has been proven once again, “said Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), commenting on the operation.