Ivo Vieira Silva, the Portuguese rapper known as 18 Karat, was deported from Germany to Portugal in the early hours of Wednesday, according to his lawyer and German authorities. The 40-year-old musician, who moved to Dortmund as a child, had been serving a six-year-and-three-month prison sentence since December 2022 for multiple serious drug offences.
His lawyer, Lisa Grüter, told German newspaper Die Zeit that Silva was allowed to contact his family only after landing in Portugal. He was removed from Germany without his mobile phone. The deportation was confirmed by authorities in Dortmund, where Silva had lived and built his career.
Legal Battle and Deportation Order
Silva had appealed the deportation order, arguing that he maintained regular contact with his young daughter, Amalia, and his German partner, Maya, with whom he is expecting a second child. He claimed that his imprisonment and family ties demonstrated he would not reoffend. However, the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen rejected the appeal, citing “compelling reasons of public order.” The court noted that during a police operation, authorities found nearly twelve kilograms of cannabis, small quantities of ecstasy and hashish, and two homemade plantations. The judges also pointed to a concrete risk of reoffending, stating that Silva had not shown evidence of cutting ties with the criminal network involved. The Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia upheld the decision in an emergency hearing on Tuesday.
Silva had served approximately four years of his sentence, including time in pre-trial detention since his arrest in June 2022. He was held under a semi-open prison regime and was close to completing a vocational training course as a painter and varnisher. According to his lawyer, German courts were due to assess whether to suspend the remainder of his sentence and grant conditional release on bail within weeks. “In my view, that decision should have been given priority,” Grüter said, describing the immediate deportation as “a disgrace to the rule of law.”
Consequences and Re-entry Ban
In Portugal, Silva is now at liberty, but the deportation does not extinguish his sentence. If he returns to German soil, he will be immediately arrested to serve the remaining two years of his term. The deportation also entails a much longer ban on re-entry into Germany. The Dortmund authorities additionally stripped him of his right to free movement within the European Union.
Silva’s wife had previously stated that the couple intended to move to Portugal after his release, emphasizing that her husband “could make music anywhere in the world.”
Career and Background
Ivo Vieira Silva burst onto the German rap scene in 2015 with his debut album “FSK 18 Brutal.” Several of his tracks have accumulated between 10 and 30 million streams on Spotify. Known for wearing a golden mask, he managed to keep his identity hidden for a decade, despite his prominence through a partnership with the label Banger Musik. In 2025, he revealed his name and nationality. Originally from Portugal, he very likely has Bosnian roots, according to German portal Raptastisch.
Silva became a father for the first time in 2025 while serving his sentence. He was allowed to leave prison, where he had married Maya, to attend the birth of their daughter, Amalia Adriana. The couple’s second child, conceived during another temporary release, is due in September 2026.
The case highlights the tensions between national deportation policies and individual rehabilitation efforts within the EU. For more on Germany's security and legal landscape, see our coverage of US Greenlights Tomahawk Missile Sale to Germany, Merz Confirms and Germany Debates Revoking Temporary Protection for Military-Age Ukrainian Men.
