The Russian mafia is stepping up its activities in Germany, according to the country’s criminal police chief.
The head of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said the “Russian-Eurasian” organised criminals now have a major foothold with the “potential to cause enormous damage”.
Holger Münch warned that billions of euros could be lost to organised crime.
He said that many of the crime brotherhoods had started in prisons and forced labour camps of the Soviet Union as far back as Stalin’s time. Since then, they have continued to recruit from jails, including ones in the west. Up to 10% - about 5,000 people - of German prisoners are Russian speakers, allowing for a “great potential for recruitment”.
He named the so-called “thieves-in-law” gang from the Stalin era as one of the most dangerous.
The BKA estimates that at least 20,000 to 40,000 individuals living in Germany may have ties with the Russian mafia, adding that the number may be higher as some of the crimes committed are never reported.
The BKA is concerned that the gangs are active in areas not usually touched by mafia, such as house burglaries and shoplifting.
Münch cited one Georgian shoplifter who had been able to earn €500 per day, and said it could be assumed "with certainty" that in 2015 criminality by these gangs had led to billions of euros worth of damages.
More traditional criminal activities include drug and human trafficking, tax fraud, protection money, prostitution, vehicle theft and counterfeit documents.
Russian criminals have been known to enter Germany posing as asylum seekers, leading the police office and refugee office to coordinate more closely.
Russian gangsters are not the only group worrying the German security services. In 2014 it was revealed that police had investigated organised criminals operating in Germany from more than 100 countries.
