The Japanese Government has issued a warning to its citizens visiting Germany amid an uptick in violence and inter-gang drugs wars.
Japanese people were advised that they should be very careful when travelling to North Rhine-Westphalia and Düsseldorf, among other places.
The South East Asian country’s authorities said in the alert issued on July 12 that Germany was suffering high drugs-related crime. Japanese visitors should be aware of that when they travel there.
“Since late June, there have been multiple explosions and confinement incidents in several cities, including Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, which are believed to be conflicts between drug groups”, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
It stressed that the explosions have taken place in some city centres and warned its people to “please take precautions such as not touching suspicious objects and quickly evacuating if you notice any suspicious situations”.
The Japanese Government stated that, since late June, there had been a series of blasts in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), specifically in Cologne, Engelskirchen and Duisburg.
“Authorities are investigating these incidents, suspecting they’re related to conflicts between drug groups with ties to the Netherlands. A recent kidnapping in Cologne is also believed to be connected.
“These explosions are typically occurring in city centres across the state. Reports are suggesting this method of planting bombs at locations associated with rival groups to instil fear is a typical tactic of Dutch drug groups,” the Japanese alert added.
The warning concluded: “While Germany is considered relatively safe among foreign countries, statistics show that the crime rate is more than 10 times higher than in Japan. As seen in these recent incidents, criminal groups can easily cross borders.”
During the European Football Championships, Euro 2024, British and Belgian newspapers warned their readers when attending games.
Frankfurt’s station district was described as “zombie land” and “Germany’s largest slum”.
One Belgian police officer, working with the German police force, told the Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad: “The consumption of hard drugs on the street is normal. Passers-by are harassed, drug users demand money … It is not safe there. We ask the Belgians who come by train to leave the station district as soon as possible and go to the fan zone.”
In the past few days, the Criminal Director of the Cologne police, Michael Esser, said the force was observing “a new dimension of violence in the area of organised crime” among drug traffickers.
According to the police, this is in large part due to the so-called “Mocro Mafia”, consisting of various criminal organisations mainly — but not exclusively — made up of people of Moroccan descent.
The most recent spike in violence in Cologne appeared to be the result of the theft of hundreds of kilograms of cannabis, leading to retaliatory criminal attacks, including targeted explosions and kidnappings.
The Mocro Mafia is primarily involved in the drug trade and is already well-established in The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. It is increasingly operating in Germany, bringing with it extreme violence and the use of explosives and automatic weapons.
In The Netherlands, the Mocro Mafia has been connected with numerous contract killings. They have also threatened ministers and heads of state there and Belgium.
According to Germany’s Bild newspaper, there is highly active hostile rivalry between the Mocro Mafia and the Kurdish-Lebanese El-Zein clan in the country.
Aside from those groups, the US and British Governments are reported to believe the Iranian regime has used drug traffickers to target its opposition abroad via murders and kidnappings.
One member of the Mocro Mafia is suspected of the attempted murder in June of Spanish politician and co-founder of the right-wing populist party VOX, Alejo Vidal-Quadras.
Spanish Intelligence services expressed concern that organised international crime was now becoming a major threat to national security and said the murder of a Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Spain in August 2023 and whose body was discovered in February might fit that pattern.
Extreme violence connected to organised crime is reaching new heights in the German city of Cologne. According to police, this is in large part due to the so-called “Mocro Mafia”. https://t.co/EOv2SztfEo
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 10, 2024
