After several decades of lax policing and investigations on large crime families across the country, German authorities have announced a change in policy and operations to reduce the massive operations of crime families across the country. One Islamic scholar and migration expert has estimated that 500,000 people in Germany belong to a clan, typically a network formed around a large extended family. Clans come from a variety of backgrounds, but most come from Lebanese, Turkish, Kurdish, Albanian, Kosovan, and Chechen, backgrounds that have enabled some of them to more easily prey upon the recent wave of immigrants that have come from similar religious and linguistic backgrounds. Activists working in the area are urging Germany to accompany the increased policing with policies that will help members leave clans, where many feel trapped due to exclusivist policies. One expert argued that “people came from countries where they could only survive with the protection of the extended family” and that Germany essentially preserved these structures and created a parallel society by failing to integrate these immigrants into education and economic structures. Police have been carrying out record numbers of raids and investigations into criminal networks and businesses, largely comprised of money laundering, tax evasion, unreported income, and similar crimes, as part of their strategy dubbed by the country’s interior minister as the “policy of 1,000 pinpricks.”
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