Police in western Germany launch massive raids against criminal clans
https://www.dw.com/en/police-in-western-germany-launch-massive-raids-against-criminal-clans/a-47062084
Police in western Germany launch massive raids against criminal clans
Date 12.01.2019
Author Darko Janjevic
German police launched simultaneous raids in six cities across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on Saturday evening, with some 1,300 officers sweeping shisha bars and other venues in Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Bochum, Recklinghausen and Gelsenkirchen. Authorities said they were targeting family crime clans of Arabic background in the northwestern state. According to the mass-circulation Bild daily, police are focusing on the Arabic crime syndicates, especially those with Lebanese background.
Police spokesman Oliver Peiler told reporters that the coordinated raids started at 9 p.m. local time (2000 UTC).
"As we do quite often, tonight we are checking numerous shisha-bars (
) because the shisha bars act as sanctuaries for members of these family clans," he said.
Clans also use shisha bars, cafes, and gambling venues for money laundering and other illegal business activities, according to media reports. Police in Essen tweeted that a man has been detained carrying 9,000 ($10,322) in cash. "He will now need to prove to the authorities that the money has been obtained legally," they said.
While dozens of people have been searched and mutiple properties swept, police are only expected to release official results of the crackdown on Sunday.
Firefighters, customs officers, members of the tax collection service and communal police officers were deployed alongside police squads. Police forces in the affected cities also shared images of the raids on social media under the hashtag "#NullToleranz," or zero tolerance.
There are about 50 criminal clans active in NRW, with their collective membership topping 10,000, according to police information cited by the Rhenische Post newspaper.
(snip)