Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - Since Wednesday, four men between the ages of 24 and 53 have been accused of extensive drug dealing in the Frankfurt Regional Court. According to the indictment, between December 2020 and November last year, they bought large quantities of cocaine, which was sold to consumers in individual portions of between 0.2 and 0.5 grams in a restaurant in Frankfurt-Höchst. The 53-year-old co-defendant is considered the head of the group.

The crimes were uncovered during a search of the bar and various apartments in November 2021, during which the alleged perpetrators were also arrested. In one of the apartments, around 33,000 euros in cash were also secured, which are said to come from the drug deals. The public prosecutor's office assumes "hundreds" of individual drug sales - a total amount of drugs could not be determined exactly. On the first day of the trial, the defendants did not comment on the allegations, but announced statements for the further course of the trial. The criminal court has initially scheduled eleven more days of hearings until the beginning of November.