by fears of being labeled xenophobic, Berlin officials have allowed a
parallel world to emerge in Germany’s capital – one inhabited by
criminal gangs of Middle Eastern origin. But is it too late for a
crackdown?
After years of inaction, Berlin law
enforcement authorities are finally taking the growing issue of migrant
gangs seriously. The city’s government on Monday announced a crackdown
on migrant criminal gangs, unveiling a five-point plan which they said
would help tackle the issue. Their new crime fighting strategy includes
enhanced cooperation between police and the prosecutor’s office, as well
as social welfare and youth services. Together they hope to crowdsource
information-gathering on gang activities.
Other measures will
involve harsher punishments for minor violations committed by gang
members and a system of youth crime prevention, which is designed to
help young gang members avoid becoming career criminals.
Ethnic clans
The
exact number of the gangs or of their membership is apparently unclear.
However, around a dozen such groups are known to German police. A
report by the Tagesspiegel daily claims that there are several “Arab
clans” that, together, comprise some 200 members. However, there may in
fact be more, as members are usually extremely tight-lipped about their
criminal ties.
Commonly known as the “Arab clans,” these criminal
groups in fact come from various backgrounds but are all of Middle
Eastern origin. The list of gangs known to police includes Palestinian
gangs as well as groups consisting of Turkish Kurds and refugees that
fled the Lebanese Civil War, Germany’s Focus magazine reports.
The
gangs are also reported to maintain ties with their countries of
origin. Its members, who are often already third generation migrants,
still identify themselves not as Germans but as Arabs, the daily added.
Parallel society
Over
the decades, the gangs have created a parallel world in the German
capital as they built their vast criminal networks consisting of
numerous shady businesses financed through ill-gotten gains. Some
criminal groups have been active in Berlin for almost half a century, as
their first members arrived in Germany in the 1970s.
In July,
Berlin police discovered and confiscated as many as 77 real estate
assets belonging to just one such family, which were all bought with
criminal money. The confiscated properties were worth a combined €9.3
million ($10.5 million).
The gangs are usually involved in the
drug trade as well as robberies. Several such groups were behind a
number of recent high-profile cases that made headlines in Germany and
beyond.
High-profile crimes
In December
2014, five members of a criminal gang broke into two jewellery stores in
a shopping center located in Western Berlin not far from the Berlin Zoo
and the famous Tiergarten Park. Armed with axes and machetes, the
masked robbers stormed the facilities in broad daylight, pepper-spraying
shoppers and injuring 13 people. They managed to steal Rolex watches
and jewelry worth €817,000 ($923,050) before fleeing the scene.
Although
the raiders were later caught, the police still failed to find the
valuables they stole, German media reported. In March 2017, another
ethnic gang stole an extremely rare commemorative coin in a daring,
middle-of-the-night heist that targeted the world-famous, UNESCO-listed
Bode Museum in Berlin.
The coin they stole was known as the ‘Big
Maple Leaf’ and was issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. The coin
is reportedly worth €920,000 (around $1 million) in its current form.
The 100kg of gold, however, would sell for roughly €3.7 million ($4.2
million) at current market value. The coin has not been found yet, with
the police believing that the culprits might have actually melted it
down.
More recently, German police report a spike in gang
violence, as rival ‘families’ have been launching attacks against each
other for weeks. In one such attack, a notorious gang member and repeat
offender was shot down near the now-defunct Berlin Tempelhof Airport.
Police then had to guard his funeral in order to prevent any further
violence. Notably, the ceremony was attended by some 2,000 people,
according to local media reports.
Fear of ‘xenophobic’ label?
One
of the hurdles facing German law enforcement is the risk of being
labeled as xenophobic for going after migrant groups – even if they’re
criminals.
An association of Berlin criminal defense lawyers has
even questioned the notion that “clan crime” exists, arguing that the
term is too vague.
Hannes Honecker, the head of the association,
said that speaking about “clan crime” is taking a page from right-wing
populists like Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing political
party that is gaining traction in Germany. He added that such
“depreciative” rhetoric conjures the picture of “large homogenous …
criminal families, which do not exist.”
Meanwhile, according to
Focus, the German police have long preferred not to systematically
target the ethnic gangs, treating their crimes as isolated cases
instead, precisely out of fear of being labeled xenophobic.
But as
the criminal gangs continue to consolidate their presence in Berlin,
Germany may have to put aside political correctness and opt instead for
safer streets.
& Commonwealth Affairs 
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