Newcomers from Syria, Iraq and other countries are changing the structure of organized crime in Germany, federal police representatives told the public broadcaster ARD in a new documentary set to be aired on Monday evening.

While investigating Arab-linked crime families, Germany’s BKA (Federal Criminal Police Agency) noted a rising number of suspects with foreign passports.

“In about one-third of proceedings, suspects also included immigrants — and that means that we need to keep a very close eye on this phenomenon,” BKA leader Holger Münch said.

Lessons learned?

German authorities are already battling long-established so-called “clans” with ties to the Arab world, most notably crime families with a Lebanese background. The newly arrived Syrians and Iraqis have not yet developed such organizational structures, according to Münch.

However, Münch warned against repeating the mistakes made by German authorities in the 1970s, when a large number of Lebanese migrants moved into the country.

The aftermath shows that “such things should not be allowed to go on for years and years — that is, I believe, the biggest lesson that we need to learn from the development in the last 30 years.”

Migrants with ‘combat experience’

Police chief in the western German city of Essen, Frank Richter, told ARD that migrants are putting the existing clans under increasing pressure and are beginning to act as competition. While those gangs have long used Iraqis as couriers for the drug trade, authorities have now noted that some groups of newcomers are trying to “take over the business.”

Read more: Italian Mafia, bikers, Berlin clans – the world of Europe’s crime gangs

Richter also said conflicts between the old and new groups might pop up in the future. Some of the newcomers have “combat experience” from living in war zones, Richter added.

“Of course, this is would be very, very different situation from what we have at the moment,” he added.

Police want more tools

Crime gangs are active all over Germany, boasting thousands of members in Berlin alone. This type of crime in the German capital is controlled by “about 20 influential families, seven or eight of whom are extremely involved in crime,” said Berlin’s interior minister, Andreas Geisel.

Speaking to ARD’s Morgenmagazin breakfast show on Monday, Geisel also said the authorities needed “additional tools” to fight crime. One of those tools would be the so-called reverse onus, a measure that would force suspected criminals to explain the origin of their property. Geisel said that the measure worked well in Italy.

Geisel also said the authorities were using the “full scope of the rule of law” to fight crime in Berlin, because “the rule of law is under pressure.”

dj/ng (AFP, dpa)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/new-migrants-put-germanys-established-crime-gangs-under-pressure/a-51408164

The post New migrants put Germany’s established crime gangs under pressure first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said asylum-seekers who commit violent crimes must leave the country, after a group of apparently drunken teenagers attacked a dozen people in the Bavarian town of Amberg.

“If existing laws are not sufficient, they must be changed,” Seehofer told Wednesday’s edition of Germany’s Bild newspaper. “The events in Amberg are very troubling. This is excessive violence which we cannot tolerate.”

Seehofer — the leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) party, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats  — said that he would make suggestions to the federal government. Seehofer had already made similar proposals in mid-December for the beginning of this year.

Read more: Germany: Man deliberately drives car at pedestrians

Police said four suspects aged 17-19 — who were asylum-seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iran — suddenly harrassed and beat passers-by on Saturday evening while under the influence of alcohol. Twelve people were injured, though the injuries were mostly minor.

The accused are currently being held in pre-trial detention on charges of causing dangerous bodily harm.

‘Deep disdain for our nation’

Rainer Wendt, the head of Germany’s police union, called on the federal government to make a statement with this case.

“The federal government must take a stand on this case,” Wendt told Bild.

He also criticized authorities for saying the motive of the four suspects was unknown. “I’ll tell you the motive,” he told Bild. “It is deep disdain for our nation and the people who live among us.”

After the attacks, Amberg Mayor Michael Cerny, who belongs to the same political party as Seehofer, wrote on Facebook that the incident should not be generalized and that the “idiots” had “done a disservice to the peaceful and committed asylum-seekers.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/german-interior-minister-renews-call-for-stricter-deportation-laws-in-wake-of-amberg-attacks/a-46921740 

The post German interior minister renews call for stricter deportation laws in wake of Amberg attacks first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said asylum-seekers who commit violent crimes must leave the country, after a group of apparently drunken teenagers attacked a dozen people in the Bavarian town of Amberg.

“If existing laws are not sufficient, they must be changed,” Seehofer told Wednesday’s edition of Germany’s Bild newspaper. “The events in Amberg are very troubling. This is excessive violence which we cannot tolerate.”

Seehofer — the leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) party, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats  — said that he would make suggestions to the federal government. Seehofer had already made similar proposals in mid-December for the beginning of this year.

Read more: Germany: Man deliberately drives car at pedestrians

Police said four suspects aged 17-19 — who were asylum-seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iran — suddenly harrassed and beat passers-by on Saturday evening while under the influence of alcohol. Twelve people were injured, though the injuries were mostly minor.

The accused are currently being held in pre-trial detention on charges of causing dangerous bodily harm.

‘Deep disdain for our nation’

Rainer Wendt, the head of Germany’s police union, called on the federal government to make a statement with this case.

“The federal government must take a stand on this case,” Wendt told Bild.

He also criticized authorities for saying the motive of the four suspects was unknown. “I’ll tell you the motive,” he told Bild. “It is deep disdain for our nation and the people who live among us.”

After the attacks, Amberg Mayor Michael Cerny, who belongs to the same political party as Seehofer, wrote on Facebook that the incident should not be generalized and that the “idiots” had “done a disservice to the peaceful and committed asylum-seekers.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/german-interior-minister-renews-call-for-stricter-deportation-laws-in-wake-of-amberg-attacks/a-46921740

The post German interior minister renews call for stricter deportation laws in wake of Amberg attacks first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.