Police and prosecutors suspect Clashes between criminal gangs as the background to the recent series of explosions in Cologne“There are obviously outstanding accounts in the milieu that still need to be settled,” said the head of the Cologne criminal police, Michael Esser, at a press conference.
“We can offer you today no investigation results yet present,” he admitted. However, the investigation is being carried out at full speed. More than 60 investigators are working on the complex.
Especially after the two explosions this week in the city centre of Cologne, there is “promising clues that we are now meticulously pursuing“. In total, there are already around 30 investigations underway against 25 suspects. There are also Connections to the Netherlands. The frequently used term Mocro Mafia but the police and public prosecutors do not use them.
Evidence of clashes between drug gangs
Most recently, on Wednesday morning, there was a Explosion in a fashion store on Ehrenstrassea popular shopping mall. According to investigations so far, the perpetrator smashed the glass entrance door of the store and placed a shopping bag with an incendiary device inside the store. Just seconds later, the entrance area was ablaze.
Witnesses saw a man about 1.80 meters tall running away. The crime scene was only a few minutes’ walk away from Hohenzollernring, where on Monday morning a Incendiary device explodes in front of a discotheque In this case, the suspect, wearing a hoodie, had presumably placed a shopping bag containing an accelerant in front of the window of a disco and set it on fire.
The Dutch police confirmed to the German Press Agency that there had also been an explosion on August 24 in front of the Amsterdam branch of the clothing chain to which the store that was devastated in Cologne on Wednesday morning belongs. The investigation is still ongoing, said a police spokeswoman. (dpa)
