Gambling gang worth millions arrested: Luxury cars, Rolex watches - and even the THW was in bets

Shortly before Christmas, the Paderborn police and public prosecutor's office announced an important blow against illegal gambling in the region. Two men were arrested for allegedly operating several slot machines without authorization. The investigators seized assets worth several million euros. Explosive: the perpetrators were already known for similar offenses.

Police sirens wail, emergency services storm several locations at the same time and in the end, luxury cars, Rolex watches and receipts for sums of money in the millions "pile up" at the evidence custodians. This is exactly the scenario that played out in Paderborn in December. After months of investigative work, the officers struck - with a large contingent from several parts of the country: Paderborn police published this in a press release one day before Christmas Eve. Not a pleasant Christmas present for the suspects - but all the more so for the investigators.

In their sights: a 45-year-old suspect and his 32-year-old accomplice, who are accused of amassing a small fortune with illegal slot machines. The raid, which took place on the evening of December 12, was meticulously planned. At the same time, the police gained access to locations in Paderborn-Stadtheide and Brilon - and not just with a handful of officers, but with reinforcements from Bochum and Cologne. Even the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) was involved in order to properly remove evidence that had been seized. With the support of the Paderborn public prosecutor's office, orders were obtained to freeze the allegedly illegally acquired assets.

In November, we reported on a major raid for illegal gambling in East Frisia, in which several people were also targeted.

The mastermind and his accomplices were already known to the criminal police

The main suspect is not an unknown quantity. The police in Paderborn had already struck in November 2022 in another case against illegal gambling operations. Back then, a gambling venue was busted that was cleverly disguised as a harmless club - run by the same 45-year-old suspect who is now back in the spotlight. After the end of the criminal proceedings at the time, there was a brief period of calm. But anyone who thought the man had kept his hands off the vending machines was soon proved wrong.

After some time, the CID received more tips: The 45-year-old was said to be active again - and this time he had reinforcements. The investigators set to work and came across a suspected casino, which of course once again passed for a clubhouse. The "gamblers' den" was found in the Hochsauerland district, more precisely in the Brilon area. In Paderborn-Stadtheide, mainly residential premises were investigated.

In a similar case, an illegal casino operation in Kamen, North Rhine-Westphalia, was dismantled in the summer of 2024.

Millions in assets, luxury cars and Rolex watches seized

This was about big fish - and even bigger loot! Investigators had been keeping an eye on the main suspect for some time and discovered that the man had amassed some impressive assets: The police press release speaks of the mastermind's "assets running into millions". Further assets were neatly distributed among various luxury goods.

• During the searches in Paderborn, the highlights (if you can call them that) came to light: Three fancy cars - worth a total of around half a million euros - were confiscated. Transporters arrived that very night to take the cars away.
• But it didn't stop at the cars. Several Rolex watches and similar items also ended up in the evidence room.
• In total, the investigators' haul amounted to a whopping 2.3 million euros - all assets that can almost certainly be said to have come from illegal transactions.

Another story, but also anything but commonplace: during the discovery of an illegal poker round in Munich, police officers found thousands of euros under the sofa and a curious work of art by Scrooge McDuck.

The THW had to move in for the illegal slot machines

Illegal gambling machines can't just be carried away under your arm: when the emergency services arrived in Brilon, they found six gambling machines in addition to a few suspicious characters who had made themselves comfortable in the gambling establishment. And they were quite something: large, heavy and anything but legal.

The machines were suspected of being rigged and were intended to make a lot of money - not for the players, of course. Before the investigators could dig any further, the machines first had to be taken out of circulation. And this is where the THW came into play. The officers called in the specialists from Paderborn because the gaming machines were so heavy that they could not simply be thrown into the trunk of a car. The helpers arrived with large equipment and made short work of it: out of the gambling den, into the seizure. Perhaps the machines will now be destroyed in a high-profile manner, just as 45 illegal machines were recently destroyed in Frankfurt am Main.

Source of the image: https://pixabay.com/photos/captured-on-the-highway-1582002/

Central text source: https://paderborn.polizei.nrw/presse/gemeinsame-presseerklaerung-der-staatsanwaltschaft-paderborn-und-der-kreispolizeibehoerde-paderborn-polizeilicher-zugriff-wegen-illegalen-gluecksspiels