Cocaine trafficking - Just another business
How police caught up with the smugglers
According to German tabloid newspaper
Bild, the investigation was initiated by the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Investigations in France were crucial. Specialists in the country analyzed messages sent through the now-defunct encrypted messaging service EncroChat.
In many cases, chat pseudonyms were traced to several suspects in Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony.
Raids leading to arrests were carried out in Hannover and around the town of Celle, in the same state, according to a police statement.
Raids also went ahead in the city of Halle in the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt, the major port city of Hamburg as well as in Baltic country Latvia.