Representative image of pizza.
Credit: Pixabay Photo
A pizzeria in Western Germany was raided by the police authorities after being tipped off about their famous 'item no 40' on the menu, which was allegedly sold with a side of cocaine.
The 'number 40' pizza on the menu of the eatery was apparently the 'best-selling' items and the authorities decided to crack the 'secret' recipe. BBC reports that the drug authorities began watching the restaurant after the food inspectors alerted them of the pizzeria.
According to criminal director Michael Graf von Moltke, when the authorities first detained the pizzeria manager, he threw a bag of drugs out of the window, which "fell right into the arms of the police officers".
Police reportedly found 1.6kg of cocaine and 400g of cannabis in the apartment. However, the manager was later released and allowed to open the pizzeria to sell the famous 'pizza-drug' combination.
But for the police, this was just the beginning of more of arrests and busting drug dealers in the area. The authorities, which did not close the file on the pizzeria, continued to follow up with the case to track the drug supply chain.
This eventually led them to the police operation that busted a drug ring in western Germany and two cannabis plantations — one in Mönchengladbach and another in Solingen.
What followed was a series of raids on the homes and business of 12 suspects, which led to the arrest of 3, including the head of the drug operations — a mere 22-year-old.
The police also re-arrested the manager when he tried to flee the country.