Fight against clan crime in NRW: raids and arrests

Created: 03/12/2022Updated: 03/12/2022 16:51

North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) speaks to a police officer from the special forces.

© Roland Weihrauch/dpa

The ongoing fight against clan crime was again the focus of the North Rhine-Westphalian police on Saturday.

In the Ruhr area in particular, numerous objects were searched and evidence secured.

There were many arrests.

NRW Interior Minister Reul was also there.

Essen - With a massive police presence, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia took action against clan crime in many cities in the Ruhr area on Saturday.

Raids in Essen, Mülheim, Bochum, Herne, Hattingen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen became known by the afternoon.

Several hundred officers were deployed, including special forces.

According to the Essen police, other authorities such as customs, tax investigation and municipal authorities were also involved in the searches.

By midday, officers had executed five arrest warrants.

Another six people have been arrested for the time being, said NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) of the German Press Agency.

The Ruhr area is considered a stronghold of clan crime in Germany.

"With these raids, we are primarily pursuing three goals: First, we catch people who have committed a crime, second, we clarify structures and find evidence, and third, of course, we also want to cause trouble," said Reul.

"Criminal clan members should know that we might be back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." According to Reul, the operation had been running nationwide since the early hours of the morning, especially in cities and districts in the Ruhr area.

"In doing so, we take a very close look at different criminal business models," Reul continued.

In Essen, for example, a 24-year-old with contacts in the clan milieu was arrested with the help of special forces, who is said to have exempted people with overpriced fitter services with five accomplices.

In connection with this crime complex alone, around 200 officers were involved in searches in a total of four cities.

Another case in Bochum dealt with the suspicion of illegal waste disposal and illegal scrap trading.

Two buildings were searched in an industrial area.

There were also many officers on duty there.

In Mülheim, the focus was on barbershops.

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The North Rhine-Westphalian state government has been using a so-called zero-tolerance strategy against clan crime for several years.

Across the country, the police are keeping an eye on 112 extended families of Turkish-Arab origin.

In 2020, the NRW police assigned almost 5,800 crimes to clan crime.

More than 3,800 people were suspects.

According to the State Criminal Police Office, one fifth of the investigation complexes in the field of organized crime have links to clan crime.

The alleged gang members in Essen are said to have posed as locksmiths, pipe cleaners or exterminators and demanded an average of 1,000 euros from the victims.

Since the 24-year-old was known to the police for violations of the weapons law, among other things, special forces took him out of his apartment.

The man is accused of commercial fraud.

He is said to have delivered bad work or no work at all with his accomplices - for which horrendous sums were then called.

According to investigators, the suspects also deducted more from their victims' EC cards in several cases.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of the Interior, Herbert Reul (CDU), saw the operation for himself early on Saturday morning in Essen.

"These were unsuspecting people who ordered help and got scammers - I find that really perfidious," said Reul.

"We put a stop to these alleged fitters today." With every single arrest, the criminal clans are "more and more on the pelt", according to the Interior Minister: "They should know that we are on their trail." dpa