BERLIN (AP) – Hundreds of German police and other investigators stormed more than 20 buildings in Berlin and the neighboring state of Brandenburg earlier on Thursday in an offensive against two rival organized crime families, officials said.
Two people, one 44 and one 22, were arrested, police said. No name has been provided under German privacy laws.
Police were investigating illegal drug and arms trafficking, as well as accusations of bodily harm linked to a “clan clash” between an Arab family and a Chechen family in organized crime last November, prosecutors said in a joint statement with the police. At that time, there were several violent clashes between the two organizations.
The 44-year-old detainee was said to have participated in at least one fight, despite being monitored by an electronic anklet, officials said.
In addition to being suspected of causing bodily harm, the 44-year-old is accused of gun violations, as well as running a marijuana plantation and operating a cocaine delivery service.
The 22-year-old faces charges of possession of drugs and weapons, as well as another 22-year-old suspect being sought, police said.
Berlin’s chief security officer, the state’s interior minister, Andreas Geisel, said the operations showed that the authorities were delivering on their promise to crack down on organized crime in the capital.
“These searches and arrests show that we are adhering to this,” he said. “We are not giving in to our systematic fight against organized crime, regardless of who is behind it.”
Berlin police said that in addition to their own SWAT teams and other personnel, federal agents, Brandenburg police and tax officials were involved in the operations, more than 500 employees in all.
Authorities did not provide further details, but the Bild newspaper reported that one of the targets was the Remmo family, who would have links to two spectacular recent assaults.
Two of the main suspects of 2019 theft The 18th century jewelry from a Dresden museum last year is part of the family, which has ties to Beirut.
Mohamed Remmo, 21, was arrested by the Berlin authorities in December in connection with the theft of the Green Vault Museum, while his twin brother, Abdul Majed Remmo, is being sought in an international warrant.
Other members of the Remmo family were convicted last year for an equally spectacular robbery, the theft of a 100-pound Canadian gold coin dubbed the Big Bode Leaf in Berlin in 2017.
The coin, estimated at 3.75 million euros ($ 4.45 million), has not yet been recovered and authorities believe it was probably cut into smaller pieces It’s sold.