A 21-year-old Syrian asylum seeker has been accused of committing over 400 crimes, including drug offences, thefts, and robberies, within the span of two years as part of a gang terrorising an area in the German town of Plauen.
Hatem H., who came to Germany at the height of the migrant crisis in October of 2015, has been accused of being part of a notorious gang in Plauen known as the “Tunnelgang” which has terrorised people in the areas around Postplatz, German tabloid Bild reports.
The 21-year-old was in court this week accused of 13 of the suspect 400 suspected offences after being arrested in November. The Syrian is said to be incredibly aggressive and has threatened judicial officials, started fights with other prisoners, and smashed up his cell.
The arrest came only a month after he was convicted in October 2017 and sentenced to 8 months’ probation for dangerous bodily harm.
The set of 13 charges include robbery, assault, assault leading to injury, and uttering threats. In one instance, Hatem H. is said to have stabbed a passerby and smashed a beer bottle over the man’s head after getting into a dispute.
Young migrant gangs have become a problem in many German cities following the migrant crisis. In the German capital of Berlin, the area of Alexanderplatz has been turned into a borderline no-go zone by youth gangs who rob locals and sell potentially lethal designer drugs called “Bonzai” and “Spice”.
In Cologne, the area of Eberplatz has been labelled a no-go area by German media with police responding to thousands of incidents in the first nine months of 2017.
The revelation of emerging migrant-dominated areas led German Chancellor Angela Merkel to make a landmark admission in March saying that no-go zones not only exist in Germany but that the state should act to make sure it maintains “the monopoly of power”.