BERLIN (AP) – Hundreds of German police and other investigators stormed more than 20 buildings in Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg early Thursday in a crackdown on two families against organized crime, authorities said.
Two people, a 44-year-old man and a 22-year-old man, were arrested, according to police. No names were given in accordance with German privacy laws.
Police are investigating the illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons, as well as allegations of bodily harm related to a “clan clash” between an Arab family and a Chechen organized crime group last November, prosecutors said in a statement jointly with the police. At that time, there were several violent confrontations between the two organizations.
According to authorities, the 44-year-old detainee was at least a failure despite being monitored via an electronic ankle.
In addition to being suspected of causing bodily harm, the 44-year-old is charged with gun rape, running a marijuana plantation and operating a cocaine delivery service.
The 22-year-old faces charges of drugs and weapons, as does another 22-year-old suspect who is being sought, police said.
Berlin’s top security official, the state’s interior minister, Andreas Geisel, said the raids showed authorities maintained a commitment to crack down on organized crime in the capital.
“These searches and arrests show that we adhere to it,” he said. “We do not give in to our systematic fight against organized crime, regardless of who is behind it.”
Berlin police said that in addition to their own SWAT equipment and other troops, there were federal agents, Brandenburg police and tax officers involved in the raids, with more than 500 troops.
Authorities did not provide further details, but the Bild newspaper reported that one of the targets was the Remmo family, which has been linked to two spectacular recent robberies.
Two of the main suspects in the 2019 robbery of the 18th century jewels of a museum in Dresden last year are part of the family, which has links to Beirut.
Mohamed Remmo, 21, was arrested by Berlin authorities in December in connection with the theft of the Green Vault Museum, while searching for his twin brother, Abdul Majed Remmo, with an international order.
Other members of the Remmo family were convicted last year of a similar robbery, the theft of a 100-kilogram (220-pound) Canadian gold coin christened the “Big Maple Leaf” at the Bode Museum in Berlin. in 2017.
The currency, with an estimated value of 3.75 million euros ($ 4.45 million), has not yet recovered and authorities think it was probably cut into smaller pieces. and sold.