Foreign organized criminal gangs are costing Germans billions, according to a new report from the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
According to the BKA report, criminal gangs in Germany caused damage worth €2.7 billion last year, more than double the previous year’s figure and almost three times the average of the past 10 years. That is the highest figure in the past 10 years, and a huge jump from 2022, which saw only €1.3 billion in damages, according to the “Federal Situation Report on Organized Crime,” presented by Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the President of the BKA, Holger Münch, in Berlin.
These costs come on top of the already massive amount of taxpayer euros flowing to migrants. In 2023 alone, migrants cost the German government nearly €50 billion. In that figure, the costs for law enforcement and organized crime are not even counted.
The amount of foreigners as a share of suspects is massive. Across all areas, the law enforcement authorities, which include the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Police, and customs, investigated 7,347 suspects for organized crime cases, which was 91 more than in the previous year, according to German newspaper Welt.
According to the data, 32.5 percent of these suspects were German, while 57.8 percent were foreigners without a German passport. In addition, the nationality of 9.7 percent of the suspects was not identified.
It is important to note that many of the “German” suspects have a foreign origin, but since they have a German passport, they are not counted as a foreigner. For instance, one Berlin prosecutor confirmed that 75 percent of all criminal clan gang suspects have a German passport, which means all of these crimes are counted under the “German” category.
The highest costs are associated with cybercrime, which amounted to €1.7 billion in 2023, after only reaching €588 million in 2022. Meanwhile, crimes related to tax and customs offenses reached €470 million, compared to €200 million in 2022.
However, the most common offenses are drug related, accounting for 41 percent of cases.
According to the BKA report, organized crime groups also successfully carried out four homicides in Germany in 2023, while 34 more attempted homicides occurred. There were also 58 cases brought regarding the smuggling of migrants.
