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"Bandidos" members (archive image)
Photo: Marius Becker / dpa
With raids in five federal states, the police targeted the rocker group "Bandidos MC Federation West Central".
As the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced, almost 1,800 officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Police and the police authorities of the federal states were involved in the operation.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) ordered the investigation under association law because of the "urgent suspicion" of criminal offenses.
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, 1,300 police officers searched more than 86 club houses and apartments since the early hours of the morning.
In Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia, 18 other objects were the target of the measures, as announced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
According to the information, the police seized weapons, ammunition and large amounts of cash.
"Violate the law and the law"
According to the Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul (CDU), drugs and motorcycles were also confiscated.
"We suspect that the rocker members break the law and commit serious crimes," said Reul.
The rule of law has the monopoly of force, not some rocker clubs.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the "Bandidos MC" was founded in Texas in 1966 and has been represented in Germany since 1999. Instead of promoting motorcycling together, as the purpose of the association provides, the association actually strives for "a territorial and financial increase in power over competing rocker-like groups." The Bandidos also enforced this claim by force.
In April, the police in the Ruhr area enforced the ban on a local association of the notorious rocker group.
“These members are responsible for attempted murder, dangerous physical harm and violations of the gun law.
There were shootings in the street, ”Reul said at the time.
The Bandidos chapter “Witten / Hohenlimburg” and the associated sub-organization “Los Compadres Hagen” have been banned and dissolved “because it is a criminal organization”.
A lawsuit was later filed with the Higher Administrative Court for North Rhine-Westphalia against the ban.
In March, the rocker association "Gremium MC Southgate" was banned in Baden-Württemberg.
"The federal and state governments are using all means available to the rule of law to combat all forms of crime," said Seehofer.
In 2018 he banned the rocker-like Turkish nationalist association "Ottoman Germania".
wit / dpa / AFP