ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: AFP 2018 / Oliver Berg
The so-called Armenian mafia has a powerful criminal infrastructure in Germany, Der Spiegel reported.
According to Der Spiegel, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, together with the land police departments, has been conducting a classified operation to search for and detain representatives of the Armenian mafia. The Federal Intelligence Service and Europol have assited the investigation.
The report claimed that the mafia has “considerable financial resources” and poses a “threat to the rule of law” in Germany. Tthe Armenian mafia allegedly first came to the attention of the Federal Criminal Police Office after its several members were involved in a shooting with members of another gang in 2014 in Erfurt.
According to Der Spiegel, the police operation ws codenamed FATIL (“Fight against thieves in law”). It targeted 42 mafia members involved in financial schemes and money laundering, resulting in 14 court cases. Still, the German police failed to take down the group due to a lack of evidence. Der Spiegel also speculated that members of the Armenian mafia often play the role of killers. It’s interesting to note that Armenian authorities offered their assistance in catching the criminals, but the BKA declined the offer.
The report of Der Spiegel adressed an important issue of the organized crime and street violence. However, it’s strange that the report focused on the Armenian mafia, which operates within a 50,000-strong Armenian diaspora. The report uses noisy terms to slam the Armenian ethnic crime and to fuel tensions in this sphere.
The current complicated situation with the organized crime and street violence in Germany is an open secret. Furthermore, it has recently become even more complicated and the number of criminal acts constantly grows. However, there are much more influential ethnic criminal gangs operating and carrying out most of criminal acts (hooliganism, thefts, plunderings, robberies, drugs and human trafficking etc) in Germany. These are descendants from Albania, Turkey, Russia’s North Caucasus, Romania, Georgia as well as different ethnic groups from Russia, the Middle East and North Africa. A detailed and complex overview of these criminal groups will be more useful for understanding of the modern criminal situation in Germany.
It’s interesting to note that the ongoing media campaign against the “Armenian mafia” is taking place amid important developments in the Armenian internal policy. A new pro-Western Armenian leader, Nikol Pashinyan, is now attempting to retain the power, which he has recently gained thanks to street protests. Some experts suggest that the media pressure on the Armenian diaspora in Germany could be a part of the ongoing standoff between Pashinyan and his opponents. In this case, the Der Spiegel-led media campaign against the so-called Armenian mafia would be an attempt to put an end to support, which the Armenian diaspora in Germany provides to the opposition to the new pro-Western Armenian leadership.
This is a mafia, so the fact that the family/gang that runs it are from Armenia means nothing. It sounds like the usual media overhype.
Historically, every time Europe was stupid enough to let in a new flavor of ethnic immigrants we also got their mafia in as well, free of charge. Even more so because I reckon criminals are very enterprising types and they know to get to the people smugglers better then the average Ahmed of Ngombo. And they certainly have the money to pay them. Chances are they are even part of the same criminal network. So I wouldn’t be surprised if because of that criminals are above average over represented among new ‘immigrants’ communities