SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Man shot in Duisburg biker bar bathroom

A 32-year-old man is dead after a shoot-out at a biker gang bar in Duisburg, police in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia said on Friday morning.

Man shot in Duisburg biker bar bathroom
Bandidos members outside the bar after the shooting. Photo: DPA

Paramedics found the man, who had sustained a severe head injury, in the Hochfeld district establishment’s bathroom on Thursday evening. He died shortly thereafter at a nearby hospital, police said.

According to witnesses, several shots were fired at the “Bandidos Place” bar, which is a known meeting point for the similarly named Texas-based biker gang embroiled in a rivalry with the Hells Angels. Both are suspected of organised crime activities.

Police are searching for several vehicles that were seen fleeing the bar after the shooting. Investigators remain uncertain about whether the incident was related to the biker gang feud.

Biker violence in Europe has made headlines periodically in recent months in what police have called an escalating gang war. In August a member of a biker gang was shot and killed in Berlin’s Hohenschönhausen district.

Member comments

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