by Gregor Spitzen
[Regnum] Criminal gangs in Germany are becoming increasingly violent, according to a new survey prepared by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
Those are mostly Moslem colonist ethnic gangs — Kurds, Iraqis, Syrians, etc. Some are mixed Moslem colonist gangs, a few others are Eastern European. A relatively small number are native, but they tend to be considerably less violent than the newcomers…In 2025, the number of investigations into organized crime groups increased. A total of 683 cases were opened, the highest number since 2021.
Gangs in Germany are increasingly resorting to mass violence to intimidate victims and consolidate their power. Their actions are often directed against rival groups.
Last year, 20 murders and 100 cases of bodily harm related to organized crime were recorded. The year before, the figures were 13 and 77, respectively.
"To defend their interests and claims to power, as well as in conflict situations, organized groups demonstrate an increased willingness to use violence," the review states.
A prolonged series of bombings and shootings in the Cologne metropolitan area, linked to the theft of a drug shipment, is cited as an example of the brutality. According to the report, cases of violent crimes being ordered and committed by underage recruits have also increased recently.
Since the recruitment of criminals through social media is "very dynamic," constant information exchange with service providers is necessary, the BKA notes. Even 13-year-olds are sometimes among the recruited criminals.
Recruiting teenagers to commit serious criminal offenses, usually related to gang turf wars, is a Swedish model pioneered by ethnic crime groups in the Nordic kingdom and now being actively implemented in Germany.
| Ok. So now that the mainstream political parties are talking about once again enforcing a cordon sanitaire against Alternativ für Deutschland, what will y’all do about it? |
| And so the ministry should be. But what will they do? |
"In Germany, we are seeing a cocaine boom, record numbers of drug-related deaths, the exploitation of children as criminals and a growing black market for cannabis," he laments.
According to the minister, drug-related offenses account for a significant share. The number of such crimes is growing: by almost 5% by 2025.
However, drug-related crimes do not include cannabis, as including it in the statistics would distort the data after legalization. The country will record a record number of drug-related deaths in 2025—2,150.
In the reporting year, drug-related crimes again accounted for the overwhelming majority of organised crime investigations, followed by economic crimes, tax and customs offences, migrant smuggling, property crimes and money laundering.
Thirty-one of the investigations primarily involved violent crimes, compared to 11 in the previous year.
The number of deaths associated with so-called new psychoactive substances has increased by almost 15%, reaching 177 cases. Online sales account for a very high share, but according to the VKA, this distribution channel is becoming increasingly important for other drugs as well.
However, the German Ministry of the Interior also had some “good” news: due to the oversupply of cocaine on the market, the price for it, according to BKA President Holger Münch, had fallen by approximately 20%.
| Gee whiz. That’s good? |
In 2025, the proportion of suspects found with weapons increased for the third consecutive year. Last year, it was 5.8%.
In 30.3% of organized crime cases reported by federal and state authorities, police encountered armed suspects. In the previous year, this was the case in 28.4% of investigations. Three-quarters of the 556 weapons seized in organized crime cases were illegal.
"While secrecy has long been a hallmark of organized crime, young criminals – the so-called Generation Z mafia – have increasingly been displaying their power, status, and violence on social media," the BKA reports.
According to available data, the increased availability of firearms in Germany is also linked to counterfeits, which are primarily smuggled from Turkey.
These copies, often appearing genuine, are sometimes difficult to distinguish from the original by appearance. Counterfeits are usable, but they typically have technical flaws and are therefore particularly dangerous.
The number of suspects in organized crime groups increased by more than 13% over the past year—the highest figure in the past five years. Among the 7,988 suspects investigated last year, 2,722 were German citizens, 664 Turkish passport holders, 402 Syrians, 281 Albanians, and 258 Poles. The geographic scope of criminal activity is also rapidly expanding: more than 69% of the cases opened were transnational in nature.
Only 34% of members of criminal groups in Germany hold German passports. The VKA does not provide statistics showing how many German citizens who have embarked on a career in professional crime as part of an organized group have no immigration background.
If you dig deeper, you might discover that people with traditional German names are almost entirely absent from gang membership. If such inconvenient information were to be revealed, it would undoubtedly be exploited in the election campaign by political forces that make the issue of migrant crime a central part of their political platforms. First and foremost, by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has so frightened the German establishment.
However, it would be unfair to claim that crime in Germany is exclusively the preserve of foreigners. Native Germans are also involved in high-profile court cases.
For example, a 55-year-old veteran of the special forces unit GSG 9, who had been on missions in hot spots, including Afghanistan, and after retirement, made the so-called “transgender* transition from male to female.”
Some time later, he was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in a restaurant restroom. After being taken into custody and placed in a men's prison in Munich, he demonstrated remarkable leadership skills by inciting his fellow inmates to film a group pornographic video featuring a dog.
So, perhaps it is still too early to write off purely German ethnic crime as a phenomenon.