Seven years after the murder of a Hells Angels rocker in Duisburg, the police searched for evidence with a major raid in North Rhine-Westphalia.

When hundreds of officers and an armored vehicle were accessed, at least 20 buildings were searched, the police and public prosecutor's offices in Duisburg and Mönchengladbach said.

A 42-year-old man had been arrested, said a Duisburg police spokesman after a corresponding report in the "Bild" newspaper.

There is also an arrest warrant against a 34-year-old who is already in custody for drug offenses.

The main suspect (33), a leading member of the Hells Angels in Oberhausen, had fled abroad.

Relation to murder from 2014

A police spokesman confirmed that the major action had a "direct link" to the 2014 murder.

A member of the rocker gang from Oberhausen was murdered and dismembered.

Walkers had discovered the man's severed tattooed arm in the Rhine near Duisburg.

Two months later, the torso was also found in the Rhine.

The police then investigated the isolated structures of organized rocker crime for years, according to the statement from the police and the public prosecutor's office.

According to the "Bild" newspaper (Thursday), the man was said to have been shot by Hells Angels members - among other things because they believed him to be an undercover agent for the authorities.

In the clubhouse and red light district

Forces of the special units and the riot police were deployed on Thursday in Duisburg, Mönchengladbach, Leverkusen and Mülheim an der Ruhr, among others.

According to a police spokeswoman, several SEK police officers are said to have used an armored vehicle to gain access to an alleged clubhouse of the rocker group in Mönchengladbach.

In addition, the police were on duty in the Duisburg red light district that morning.

The focus of the action are several suspects who can be attributed to the rocker group of the Hells Angels, it says in the message. In addition to the 2014 murder case, some are also suspected of having been involved in two murder attempts in 2013. At noon, North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) also wanted to comment on the case in Düsseldorf.