Whoever would order a "pizza number 40" from Stipe R. would allegedly receive cocaine in the box. U Düsseldorf The trial begins now. Croatian to a citizen charged with trafficking drugs and membership in a criminal organization, he writes Deutsche says.
Düsseldorf's Old Town is a tough terrain for restaurateurs. The competition in "Altstadt" is huge. Due to the large number of cafes, bars and restaurants, this popular neighborhood is often called the "longest bar in the world".
Stipe R. was not afraid of competition. With his small establishment where he offered pizzas from the fryer, this Croatian managed to quickly establish himself and gain satisfied customers. As he once told on TV station Vox, he thought for a long time about what he could offer to customers and then it occurred to him that it should be "something completely different, something they don't know".
Pizza number 40
The hit in the offer of "Stipe's pizza from the fryer" was pizza number 40. Whoever ordered that pizza would receive drugs in the box along with the pizza. As a "special addition". According to the witnesses, a packet of cocaine worth 40 euros would be delivered with each pizza.
According to the State Prosecutor's Office, the 37-year-old pizzeria owner has been selling "pizza number 40" for years. The news of his arrest in the fall of last year caused public attention throughout Germany.
"The case of the pizzeria is unique, both in terms of dimensions and in the way everything happened," said Michael Graf von Moltke from the Düsseldorf Police Department at the time. He led the investigation in that case.
Five hearings planned
According to the District Court in Dusseldorf, Stipe R. has not yet pleaded guilty to the charges. He will have the opportunity to do so during the court proceedings that begin this Wednesday (January 22). Five hearings are planned until February 12, when the first-instance verdict should be handed down.
The owner of the pizzeria was not previously known to the German judicial authorities. As confirmed by the State Prosecutor's Office, Stipe R. was targeted by investigators only in March of last year. Due to the suspicion of illegal work in his premises, an inspection was carried out in his building. On that occasion, a pizza with "unusual ingredients" caught the eye of the controllers.
The police were informed about everything. Not long after that, police officers knocked on the door of the apartment where Stipe R was staying. In a panic, he threw a sack from the balcony, which, according to the indictment, contained almost 264.000 euros, more than 200 grams of cannabis and approximately 1,6, XNUMX kilograms of cocaine.
"Jack literally fell into the hands of the police officers who were in front of the building," confirmed the State Prosecutor's Office.
The Croatian citizen was then arrested for the first time, but was released again after only two days. A few days later, he went to a pizzeria and continued to sell pizza number 40.
Attempted escape to Croatia
Since then, German investigators have begun to monitor Stipe R.'s bar in order to gather more information about who distributes drugs, that is, who are the people who manage that network.
Stipe R. was arrested again on August 21 last year and has been in pre-trial detention ever since. He was detained there for trying to escape abroad. Namely, he planned to quickly sell the bar and flee to Croatia. The German judiciary charges him with organized drug trafficking and membership in a criminal group.
If proven guilty, he faces a multi-year prison sentence. R. arrived in Germany only a few years ago. As he himself said, he was dissatisfied with the situation in Croatia, so he wanted to try his hand at entrepreneurship.
In a raid conducted in October 2024, the police, based on information from the surveillance of his pizzeria, also arrested a 22-year-old man from Dusseldorf who is considered to be the head of a drug-trafficking gang. A 28-year-old man from nearby Han, as well as a 30-year-old man from Cologne, were detained.
Criminal network broken up
At that time, 150 policemen, i.e. members of special units, participated in raids in the area of several cities in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. According to the police, then a network of drug dealers was broken up, in which 12 people were involved. Among other things, the police officers discovered two cannabis plantations, and several weapons, several expensive watches and cash were confiscated.
The arrested 22-year-old, a citizen of Russia, faces a maximum prison sentence of up to 15 years for drug trafficking and other serious crimes, state prosecutor Laura Neuman confirmed.
For now, the date of the start of the court proceedings against him, as well as two of his accomplices, is not known.
