Frankfurt police: Charges filed after murder of undercover agent in Spain

The Spanish public prosecutor's office has filed charges against the suspected murderer of a Frankfurt police informant. Tolga S., along with three accomplices, allegedly shot the victim in southern Spain in June 2022, according to the indictment, which was obtained anonymously by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Prosecutors also accuse the 34-year-old German of membership in a criminal organization and illegal possession of weapons.

The victim, 33-year-old Serbian Aleksandar K., was found dead in a holiday resort in Marbella. Investigations revealed that he was involved in international drug trafficking until his death. At the same time, he had worked as an informant for the Frankfurt Police Headquarters for years. The murder therefore also made headlines in Germany – and sparked a police scandal.

Frankfurt investigators had clung to their informant from the drug scene until the very end, despite having concrete evidence that Aleksandar K. himself was organizing large-scale cannabis shipments from Spain to Germany. According to internal files obtained by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), an investigation against him was discontinued under questionable circumstances. When news of the murder in Marbella reached the German security authorities, the VP leader, Aleksandar K.'s contact person at the police, deleted all his chats with the victim.

The suspected murderer, Tolga S., was arrested in Turkey in the spring of 2024 and extradited to Spain. He has been in custody there since then. According to information from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), a suspected accomplice, Muhamed Said Ö., is in prison in Germany. He was recently sentenced to almost ten years in prison for drug trafficking by the Cologne Regional Court. The Spanish authorities have requested his extradition. Two other suspects, who are also named in the Spanish indictment, have gone into hiding.

Together with his accomplices, the Spanish prosecutor writes in his indictment, which was dated May 31 of this year but has not yet been made public, Tolga S. and his accomplices engaged in "criminal activities" that led to problems with Aleksandar K. Therefore, the men agreed to carry out an attack on him. They met him in front of the holiday apartment in Marbella on the afternoon of June 29, 2022, and entered it together.

Inside, according to the prosecutor's office, the defendants then beat Aleksandar K., tying him to a chair and wrapping his body and head with plastic wrap. Finally, according to the prosecutor, they shot their victim three times with a Glock pistol. The shots hit Aleksandar K. in the chest, neck, and head. He had no chance to defend himself.

The FAZ was unable to locate a lawyer for Tolga S. in Spain. When contacted, the German lawyer for Muhamed Said Ö. declined to comment on the allegations made by the public prosecutor's office in Marbella.

The fact that Aleksandar K. had worked for the German police is not mentioned in the Spanish indictment. However, there are indications that this was precisely the motive for the crime. These can be found in the investigation files of the Hanau public prosecutor's office, which also initiated proceedings after the murder in Marbella. Police officers from the Hessian State Criminal Police Office also questioned the VP leaders from Frankfurt who had recruited and supported Aleksandar K. as an informant. According to the report, Aleksandar K. had betrayed Tolga S. to the police just a few weeks before his death.

Wiretapped conversations and statements from people close to Aleksandar K. indicated that he owed Tolga S. tens of thousands of euros, presumably from joint drug deals. The findings of the investigation suggest that the perpetrators' initial goal at the meeting in Marbella was to collect these debts. However, when the men confiscated Aleksandar K.'s cell phones, they discovered his chats with his VP leader – and thus knew that he had been working for the police.

What exactly was contained in the chats remains unknown to this day. Spanish police found no cell phones at the crime scene. And the VP leader in Frankfurt had reset his cell phone to factory settings, so even a specialist company couldn't restore the chats. According to the transcripts, he refused to comment on this during a witness interview. Investigators from the State Criminal Police Office asked the public prosecutor's office for an assessment of whether their colleague had committed a criminal offense by deleting the chats – which were potentially considered evidence. According to information from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), a fine was ultimately imposed on him in disciplinary proceedings. Like other officers involved at police headquarters, he was transferred.

The Hanau public prosecutor's office closed its proceedings into the murder of Aleksandar K. and forwarded its findings to its Spanish colleagues. In their indictment, they are now demanding a life sentence for Tolga S. He also demands compensation for the victim's relatives – €45,000 each for the father and mother, and €100,000 for Aleksandar K.'s wife.