Early on Wednesday, 30 September, more than 1,000 police officers launched coordinated raids in Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. The operation targeted an international money-laundering network linked to members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.
According to Duisburg police and the dpa news agency, 14 arrest warrants were executed. Authorities are seeking to seize assets worth €48.6 million. More than 100 properties were searched. Seventy-one people are under investigation.
The suspects include people who ran a money-laundering network operating across Germany and Europe, as well as senior members of the biker gang. They are accused of forming a criminal organisation, extortion, organised fraud, money laundering, illegal weapons offences, causing bodily harm and tax evasion.
Most of the raids took place in North Rhine-Westphalia, particularly in Duisburg and Oberhausen. Six further properties were searched in other German states (Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Berlin and Bavaria), and seven in Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
The operation is being led by the Duisburg public prosecutor’s office with the involvement of North Rhine-Westphalia’s financial crime authority. The investigation lasted more than four years and began after a shooting in Duisburg’s Hamborn district in May 2022. Investigators say the gang and associated individuals laundered proceeds from drug and weapons trafficking, racketeering and prostitution through shell companies and complex corporate structures.
Police are continuing to seize assets, including real estate, luxury cars, cash and gold.
