17 Property Searches Conducted Over Suspected Money Laundering, Other Criminal Offences in North Rhine-Westphalia

In a preliminary investigation into suspected money laundering and other criminal offenses, the central and contact point for the prosecution of organized crime in North Rhine-Westphalia (ZeOS NRW) ordered 17 searches of properties in Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Oberhausen and Mülheim ad Ruhr early on Wednesday morning (May 31). , Ratingen, Duisburg, Grevenbroich and Cologne. The target was several operators of car rental companies. The operation was carried out by officers from the Düsseldorf police and the Düsseldorf and Essen riot police.

In a joint press release, ZeOS NRW and the Düsseldorf police informed that investigations by the Ruhr Security Cooperation (SiKo Ruhr) had revealed indications that some rental companies with highly motorized vehicles had repeatedly become conspicuous in connection with criminal offenses. There is a suspicion that the companies specifically rented motor vehicles to people from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, who used them to commit crimes. The vehicle rentals were presumably paid for with proceeds from these crimes and the stolen money was thus laundered.

There are also indications that the accused regularly registered their companies, then changed their names, deleted them again and, by relocating their registered office, made themselves punishable in several cases for bankruptcy, breach of accounting obligations and preferential treatment for debtors.

Suspects are seven suspects between the ages of 19 and 39 with German, Turkish and Lebanese nationality. Two property arrests in the amount of more than 58,000 euros were enforced. Extensive evidence and cash worth around 30,000 euros were seized during the searches.

The investigations and the evaluation of the seized evidence are ongoing.