The Hells Angels are extending their sphere of influence into southern Germany, the Bavarian Interior Ministry warned in a report published earlier this month.
The motorcycle group, which has been linked to organized crime in many countries, has long been established in northern Europe.
“There are initial indications, and there have been incidents, showing that the Hells Angels are establishing themselves in Bavaria,” state Interior Minister Juergen Heike told Die Welt newspaper. “We are monitoring the rise of organizational structures like those in the Mafia.”
PHOTO: EPA
The newspaper noted that the gang had in the past been linked to dealing in illegal drugs and arms. They have also been linked to prostitution, protection rackets and money laundering.
Heike said southern Germany was of increasing interest to the gang because of drug routes running through southeastern Europe and the Balkans.
“The Hells Angels are organized on an international basis and target areas where they can make money,” he said.
Police in the southern state, Germany’s largest, put the number of gang members at 414, organized into 42 so-called chapters. Investigations into 27 members had been initiated last year.
In December last year, Dutch prosecutors failed in their efforts to have the Hells Angels declared a criminal association after an Amsterdam court ruled that confidential conversations between members and their lawyers had been bugged illegally.
In an earlier case, 12 members of the related Nomads club were acquitted of the murder of three of their number in the southern Dutch province of Limburg in 2004. The court found that it could not be established precisely who had carried out the murders.(DPA)
巴伐利亞邦內政部在本月稍早公布的一份報告中警告，「地獄天使幫」正將勢力擴張至德國南部。
這個和�?禤a的組織犯罪都脫不了關係的重機團體，已在北歐發展了好長一段時間。
內政部部長約根．海克向《德國世界報》表示：「初步跡象和到目前為止發生的一些事件顯示，『地獄天使幫』正在巴伐利亞邦拓展勢力範圍；我們正在監控像黑手黨等黑道組織的組編發展。」
報導中提到，該幫派過去曾涉入毒品及武器等非法交易。除此之外，他們也涉及賣淫、勒索保護費及洗錢等非法行為。
海克說，該幫派對德國南部的興趣日益增加，因為他們可以經此運送毒品至歐洲東南部和巴爾幹半島。
他說：「『地獄天使幫』是個國際性的幫派組織，專門鎖定可以大賺一筆的地區。」
德國最大邦巴伐利亞邦的警方估計，該幫派約有四百一十四名幫眾，並分為四十二個分支。警方從去年起，已開始著手調查其中二十七位成員。
去年十二月，荷蘭檢方提報地獄天使幫為犯罪組織的行動，在阿姆斯特丹法院裁定檢方監聽被告幫眾和其律師間的機密對話是為非法後，宣告失敗。
還有一個更早的例子，相關組織「Nomads」的十二名成員二００四年被控在荷蘭南部的林堡省謀殺三名同夥，但法院認為無法證實這起罪行是何人所為，最後無罪釋放。（德通社�翻譯：袁星塵）
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