According to Europol, the European law enforcement agency, organised crime is spreading throughout Europe. The increasing tendency towards violence within criminal networks is a problem in countries such as Germany.
“Organised crime is on the rise. It exploits every weakness,” Europol chief Catherine De Bolle told German newspaper Der Spiegel, in comments seen by dpa.
The growing drug trade fueled the violence, De Bolle said. Cocaine production in South and Central America is booming and Europe is being flooded with the drug, Europol said.
“The situation is dramatic,” said De Bolle, who noted that trade in other drugs was also increasing.
According to research by the police in The Hague, there are 821 serious criminal networks active in the European Union.
These gangs, with more than 25,000 members, are highly professional and ruthless, Europol recently warned. Their main activity, according to the analysis, is drug trafficking.
Urgent call
Money earned in Europe from drugs largely stays on the continent and is invested in the local economy, De Bolle says. “This makes organized crime one of the greatest dangers of our time.”
The police need the technical resources, powers and personnel to stand a chance in the fight against criminal networks, De Bolle said. “If we don’t invest more, we will lose this fight.”
Following a serious conflict between German and Dutch drug gangs in the Cologne region, the German Criminal Investigation Department (BDK) is warning of crimes such as bomb attacks and kidnappings.
“The Netherlands should be a warning to us,” Oliver Huth, chairman of the BDK in North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. Explosions in front of houses or businesses are a common pressure tactic used by drug gangs.
