Brandenburg police officers take Berlin clans seriously

In Brandenburg, suspects from Berlin’s clan milieu are increasingly attracting attention – and investigators are warning against this form of organized crime, which so far has mostly been associated with capital city districts such as Neukölln. Now criminologists and officials from Brandenburg are commenting on Tagesspiegel research on the expansion of relevant active large Berlin families into the Brandenburg area.

“Clan crime doesn’t stop at the city limits. So far, well-known men from the milieu have only appeared sporadically in Brandenburg. But we observe suspected cases of money laundering, Brandenburg seems to be a haven for clans from Berlin, ”said Peter Kaiser, the Brandenburg head of the Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter (BDK).

“Should the phenomenon expand, the Brandenburg police would quickly reach their limit, the current staff would hardly be enough for the necessary investigations. Our resources are already too scarce to push back the existing actors in organized crime, ”said Kaiser. “In Cottbus, where there is a dangerous rocker scene, we have no specialist service for this,” said Kaiser. In the south of Brandenburg, men from the Hells Angels and the hooligan scene are active, investigators speak of gang and commercial crimes. “We are currently also observing that Chechen cliques in Brandenburg are becoming more active – and attracting attention through serious acts of violence.”

The weekend before last, the Tagesspiegel compiled numerous Brandenburg locations where big Berlin clans are active – for example to buy real estate or drug deals. The card was presented to the investigators for organized crime in Brandenburg’s State Criminal Police Office (LKA) in Eberswalde, who mostly deal with rockers and Eastern European gangs. “We are in constant contact with the LKA Berlin and the Federal Criminal Police Office,” said a spokesman for the Brandenburg police.

In fact, attempts were registered from the clan milieu to get houses in Brandenburg. “In Brandenburg there are individual crimes and references to clan criminals and people around them. And we know them, ”said the spokesman. “Solidified structures, massed networks and branches in the state of Brandenburg analogous to the dimension as in Berlin are not discernible. We do not have problems like Berlin, nor were there any known clashes between members of the clan in the country. “

In 2020, members of Chechen families and a German-Arab clan, the majority of whom live in Berlin, fought fierce battles in Neuruppin. “If we find members of Arab clans as suspects, then they have their place of residence in Berlin,” said the police spokesman.

Suspected large dealers recently caused a stir. Eight men were arrested in February in Frankfurt (Oder) and the Oder-Spree district; 55 kilograms of marijuana, ten kilograms of cocaine and 300,000 euros in cash were found. The network from Frankfurt, which is dominated by Albanians, is said to have also consisted of young rockers. Some of the men were involved in fights with an extended Lebanese family in Fürstenwalde. In June, four men from the clan were sentenced to prison terms for serious robbery and dangerous bodily harm.

Time and again, clan criminals cooperate with individuals who do not come from the milieu of large German-Arab families, but who could be interesting for gangs because of their professions. In addition, in recent years the Berlin milieu has become increasingly active on the outskirts and in the suburbs – in Hellersdorf-Marzahn, Spandau, Treptow-Köpenick as well as Kleinmachnow and Oranienburg. So they sometimes opened bars there and rented or bought apartments.