Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Leonid Tsukanov
[Regnum] A decade and a half has passed since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya with the aim of "setting the country on the path of reform."
However, the change of power did not bring stability. On the contrary, the state, once a thriving regional player, transformed into a battlefield for others and a site of covert operations. Drug traffickers, targeting the rich and ever-growing market, showed particular zeal.
In 2026, large shipments of synthetic drugs arriving from Europe were regularly surfacing in various parts of Libya. Moreover, according to the evidence available to investigators, most of the shipments were carried out by German dealers, or by those posing as them.
"TRUE GERMAN QUALITY"
The rise of the German drug trade is not a new phenomenon.
For several decades, Germany has been considered the unofficial leader among Western European countries in terms of the number of clandestine synthetic laboratories, and is also among the top five countries with the highest number of drug dealers per capita in the EU.
German drug lords actively supply half of the Middle East and almost all of Africa.
However, until recently, it was generally accepted that Libya served as a purely transport hub for European businessmen, through which cocaine was shipped from Latin America to their continent, and various types of synthetic drugs were shipped in the opposite direction.
The domestic market was typically dominated by Captagon, mostly imported from Syria, and opioids supplied from India under the guise of legal medications.
Their discovery did not cause much surprise among local security forces and was quite common in these areas.
UNKNOWN "PRODUCT"
Estimates changed dramatically in the fall of 2026. Specifically, in early October, the Libyan military reported seizing over 1.3 million pills near the city of Al-Kufra in the southeast of the country. This is one of the largest hauls in the past decade.
The distinguishing feature of the discovered batch was its labeling: the dealers had stamped the words “Made in Germany” on the tablets.
At first, the evidence was considered circumstantial. Until they began to unravel the supply chain. It turned out that the cargo had indeed arrived from Germany.
It was loaded at the port of Hamburg, and the shipment was handled by a shell company registered in Cologne. However, the Libyans were unable to track down the actual perpetrators of the order: during a fierce firefight with the smugglers, most managed to flee; those covering their escape were eliminated by security forces.
In search of clues, law enforcement officials raised some previous incidents and noticed coincidences.
For example, the banned pills in the shape of Colonel Gaddafi's silhouette seized in Tripoli in September 2026 (approximately 100,000 pieces) also arrived in the country from Hamburg with the assistance of a similar shell company, only registered in Dortmund and having a "representative office" in Sierra Leone.
Other, less obvious clues were also found. Therefore, Libyan security officials cautiously suggested that the same criminal network, based somewhere in Europe and with connections to Hamburg port authorities, was behind the shipments. Requests for assistance in the investigation were sent to Brussels and Berlin.
NOT THE SIGNATURE OF THE TROIKA
European law enforcement officials were no less puzzled by the unexpected discoveries in El Kufra and Tripoli than the Libyans.
The question arose as to who exactly was behind the increased activity in Libya and what their goals were. Initially, suspicion fell on three key German crime families (the so-called "Troika") – the Remmo, Miri, and Al-Zein clans, whose emissaries had been active in Africa in recent years.
However, law enforcement officials found no solid evidence that they were the ones who began developing the market on the other side of the Mediterranean. Moreover, the unnamed businessmen's methods didn't match the signature of any of the families.
Moreover, it seemed as if the mysterious dealers in Libya were trying to please everyone at once. For example, a "product" shaped like Gaddafi's head was intended for distribution among the Tuaregs (who historically have a fondness for the colonel), while in coastal areas, the dealers were clearly trying to hook the population on a drug superior in quality to its Syrian counterpart.
Judging by the harsh response from security forces in both parts of Libya, they had yet to find powerful patrons in the warring camps. This meant that the theory of deals with large criminal families no longer seemed foolproof. And the confiscated substances were qualitatively inferior to samples of German illegal pharmaceuticals.
It seemed as if ambitious amateurs had entered the game, masquerading as "branded" German drug dealers, in order, on the one hand, to confuse the buyer and force him to take an unfamiliar shipment for a large sum, and on the other, to protect themselves from possible pressure from local criminals.
It is possible that gangs from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Balkans, may have had a hand in the case, but Europol has chosen not to disclose the details of the investigation for the time being.
In any case, the change in the operational version didn't make things any easier for Europeans. Even if the synthetic drugs confiscated in Libya weren't produced in Germany but were imported there only for further transshipment, Hamburg still remained an exit point for traffickers, and the German shell companies a convenient cover.
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