Hanover (dpa / lni) - The fight against organized crime in Lower Saxony is largely a fight against drug offenses.

With 29 out of 64 preliminary investigations in this area, almost half were trafficking and smuggling of drugs.

This emerges from a situation report on organized crime in 2019, which Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Justice Minister Barbara Havliza (CDU) presented on Monday in Hanover.

Both refused to legalize drugs.

“That would be like if we no longer criminalized shoplifting in order to relieve the police and the judiciary.

And shoplifting doesn't even have any health consequences, ”said Pistorius.