SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Asylum seeker sentenced to jail for random attacks in Amberg

An 18-year-old asylum seeker who carried out random attacks on people in the Bavarian town of Amberg in the lead up to New Year’s Eve 2018 has been handed a jail sentence.

Asylum seeker sentenced to jail for random attacks in Amberg
The centre of Amberg. Photo: DPA

The Iranian man was given a jail term of two years and seven months. Three other defendants were handed suspended sentences of between six and 11 months from the court, reported German media. 

A total of 15 people were injured during the violence which took place on December 29th last year.

The men, who are from Iran and Afghanistan, said they had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the attacks. During the incident the men physically assaulted several people in the town, with one hospitalized for head wounds. 

The case became a hot political topic in Germany, with calls for asylum seekers who commit crimes to be deported more easily. It also led to far-right groups patrolling the Bavarian town.

As The Local reported at the beginning of January, far-right extremists started patrolling the streets of the town after the violence happened as part of so-called “neighbourhood defence groups”.

Meanwhile, Bavarian politicians condemned the attacks by the young men. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that he had been “shaken up” by the news. “This excess of violence is unacceptable,” he added.

Seehofer’s deputy at the Interior Ministry, Stephan Mayer, said that there would be consequences for the country’s refugee policies.

“Any asylum seeker who commits a criminal offence, especially if they commit crimes against life and limb, against property or of a sexual nature, has forfeited their right to hospitality and must leave Germany immediately,” Mayer told Bild newspaper at the time.

“In order to protect the population, perpetrators of violence should also be able to be placed under maximum control — for example through residence obligations, reporting obligations and electronic ankle restraints,” he added.

Member comments

  1. So they get a smack on the hand and go about with their backwards ways. Jailed and deported would have sent a more important message.

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

German police said Wednesday they had arrested 11 suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group behind a large-scale dating scam.

German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

The Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity”, with a focus in Germany on romance scams and money-laundering, Bavarian police said in a statement.

The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, police said.

“Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,” police said.

The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, authorities said.

In the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($5.7 million), police said.

The suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.

Law enforcement swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters, police said.

The Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, police said.

The group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

Globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human-trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug-trafficking”.

Black Axe operated under the cover of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, an ostensibly charitable organisation used as “camouflage” for the gang’s structures.

The action against Black Axe was the first of its kind in Germany, police said.

SHOW COMMENTS