Status: 01.07.2021 2:51 p.m.
Because of the “urgent suspicion” of criminal offenses, the police in five federal states raided the rocker group “Bandidos”. Almost 1,800 officers were on duty. They found weapons and ammunition, among other things.
With almost 1,800 officers, the police in five federal states took action against the rocker association “Bandidos”. They searched a total of 104 objects and secured weapons, ammunition and “large amounts of cash,” said the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer ordered the raids because of “urgent suspicions” of criminal offenses.
The association is striving for “a territorial and financial increase in power over competing rocker-like groups and enforces corresponding claims also by force,” explained the ministry. The raids focused on North Rhine-Westphalia, but searches also took place in Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia.
Searched club houses and apartments
“The federal and state governments are using all means available to the rule of law to combat all forms of crime,” said Seehofer. The operations were directed against the group “Bandidos MC Federation West Central”. They were “trouble-free”.
Focus on NRW
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, 1,300 police officers searched more than 86 club houses and apartments since the early hours of the morning. According to North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), drugs and motorcycles were also seized. “We suspect that the rocker members break the law and commit serious crimes,” said the minister. The rule of law has the monopoly of force, “not just any rocker clubs,” he emphasized.
In Germany since 1999
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the “Bandidos MC” was founded in Texas, USA in 1966 and has been represented in Germany since 1999. The purpose of the association is actually only to promote motorcycling together.
Shootings in the street
Last April, the police in the Ruhr area enforced the ban on a local association of the notorious rocker group. “These members are responsible for attempted murder, dangerous bodily harm and violations of the gun law. There were shootings in the street,” Reul said at the time. The Bandidos chapter “Witten / Hohenlimburg” and the associated sub-organization “Los Compadres Hagen” have been banned and dissolved “because it is a criminal organization”. A lawsuit was later filed with the Higher Administrative Court in North Rhine-Westphalia against the ban. In March, the rocker association “Gremium MC Southgate” was banned in Baden-Württemberg.