Customs should become more powerful when it comes to fighting organized crime. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has therefore announced, among other things, that in future there will be an “OC Control Center” at the Customs Criminal Police Office – “OK” for organized crime. It is important to “continue to fight highly conspiratorial and predominantly international criminal structures at eye level” and to “gain a head start”, said Lindner on Wednesday in Berlin. The minister also wants to promote the confiscation of illegally obtained assets. It is important to hit the perpetrators where it hurts them the most.
The new center is expected to be operational by spring 2025. The idea is to get “before the situation” by bundling and also to get a better exchange of information with other authorities such as the federal police or the state criminal investigation offices. There should also be investigation centers for organized crime at regional level by mid-2025. An “innovation center” is also planned to give customs better technical support and “to be one step ahead of the perpetrators,” as the new President of the Customs Criminal Police Office, Tino Igelmann, emphasized on Wednesday. A comprehensive digitization of the investigations should also help to relieve customs in their work.
Lindner also announced that he would increase the number of staff in the special customs units, but “without any additional burdens on the federal budget”. Instead, the planned increases in staff at customs are to be used in such a way that these units in particular are strengthened. The special units are deployed when customs has to deal with groups of perpetrators prepared to use violence, when apartments have to be opened by force and searches are carried out.