Nationwide police action
Rocker crime: Faeser bans “United Tribuns”
Guests at a funeral service for a member of the “United Tribunes” rocker club who was shot dead in April 2016 in Heidenheim (Baden-Württemberg). photo
© picture alliance / dpa
Sexual offenses, human trafficking and attempted homicide – Federal Interior Minister Faeser had no shortage of reasons for a ban.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) has banned the rocker-like group “United Tribuns”, which has almost 100 members in Germany. The police searched the group’s private apartments and club rooms in nine federal states in the morning.
Members of the United Tribunes have committed the most serious crimes, including sex crimes, human trafficking and attempted homicide, Faeser said. “As a constitutional state, we have to show very clearly that we do not tolerate groups that commit such serious crimes.”
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the group was founded in 2004 by a former Bosnian boxer in Villingen-Schwenningen, Baden-Württemberg. Its members are Germans and foreigners, most of whom come from the states of the former Yugoslavia. The founder should no longer be in Germany. The man, who came to Germany as a refugee during the war in Bosnia, reportedly worked as a bouncer and later founded two brothels with others.
Searched 40 objects in NRW
The group engaged in violent clashes with competing rocker groups such as the “Hells Angels”. The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced that its members had committed sexual and human trafficking offenses, fraud or drug trafficking. The fact that criminal offenses are not only tolerated by the “United Tribunes”, but also “encouraged and rewarded”, is also shown by the fact that there are various patches (“patches”) of the association that are awarded to members who commit criminal offenses within the meaning of the association.
According to the Düsseldorf police, 40 objects were searched in NRW. These include club houses and private apartments in Wuppertal, Cologne, Remscheid and Mettmann as well as in several other cities. Special units were deployed at an object in Cologne. A total of several hundred officials are involved in the searches in NRW.
According to the Federal Ministry, the ban on associations takes place in coordination with the interior ministries of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia.