Thefts are on the rise as gangs from Georgia send members to Germany as asylum seekers to commit crimes in increasing numbers.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) says that the increase in thefts of jewels and art in Germany are largely the result of gangs from Georgia who smuggle members into Germany as asylum seekers. They report that the lax asylum rules have given the gangs a window of opportunity to travel across the country, stealing whatever they can get their hands on.
The BKA said, “it was natural that these people make an application for asylum, only to temporarily stay to commits a crime in Germany,” according to Die Welt.
The agency stated in 2014 in a confidential report that, “Georgians targeted applications for asylum in Germany in order to commit crimes of theft of property for the duration of the asylum procedure.” Georgian gangs are said to recruit young men in their home country , “to commit gang-organized burglaries and thefts in Germany and other European countries.”
The BKA says that the gang members target valuables that are easily sold in both Germany and Georgia. In addition to cash the thieves look for jewellery, computers as well as mobile phones, MP3 players, sat navs,and digital cameras. The goods are then taken to what are known as “fences” who sell them on or directly to flea markets or internet sites like Craigslist.
The migrants who carry to the crimes are predominately young men aged 20-45 and are usually multiple offenders. To get around their convictions the men disguise their identities with forged papers. Police have confiscated many identification documents from the thieves including driving licenses from Lithuania and the Czech Republic.
The number of Georgians in Germany is low in comparison to other nationalities numbering only in the several thousand. The Federal Office of Migration and Refugees (BAMF) told media that in the last year a record number 3196 Georgians applied for asylum whereas in 2010 there were only 751. The acceptance rate of Georgian asylum seekers is less than one percent according to BAMF. They say it is not known how many of the migrants from Georgia who come are directly linked organized crime but it suspected that hundreds could be.
Police are tight lipped about how many Georgian criminals they are able to capture since the migrant crisis began in 2015. The most recent figures are from 2013 when police caught a total of 156 Georgian migrants who were accused of various crimes. The police rarely, if ever, arrest Georgians associated with organized crime.
The Federation of German Detectives (BDK) chairman André Schulz spoke out about the growing problem saying, “in many cases the Georgian mafia specifically recruits criminals in Georgia and sends them to Germany. The Georgian gangs create an economic loss of over 100 million euros per year.”
Europol has issued a warning relating to organized crime and the migrant crisis. They say that migrants, especially children, are at risk from gangs who may take kidnap them and force them into sexual slavery. The migrant crisis has already seen ISIS members able to sneak into Europe to plan or commit terrible terrorist offences, now it sees foreign criminal gangs use the same lax asylum policies to rampage across the continent with impunity.
Breitbart London reported earlier this week on rising theft crime in Germany, which has seen a ten per cent increase in the past year. Mass migration and open borders were blamed.