In the fight against clan crime, investigators from North Rhine-Westphalia siphoned off more assets than ever before.

If the police seized assets worth four million euros in 2020, it was around 10.2 million in 2021 - including 8.4 million euros in cash and real estate worth 1.1 million euros.

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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"We haven't been talking about small things for a long time," said North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on Tuesday at the presentation of the fourth clan crime situation report in Neuss.

NRW is "no longer a honeypot" for criminal Turkish-Arab extended families.

As a further indicator of success, Reul evaluated the fact that the number of clan crimes fell by 5.8 percent to 5,462 compared to the previous year.

The fight against clans is a marathon, so you shouldn't "let the thread break," says Reul.

The black and yellow state government, which has been in office in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, has made the fight against large criminal families one of its most important domestic political priorities.

High number of repeat offenders

The latest situation report from the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) shows how much still needs to be done despite some successes.

In every fifth investigation into organized crime, there are references to Turkish-Arab extended families.

The high number of repeat offenders also remains a problem: a good quarter of the 3,629 crimes registered by the LKA are committed by 4.5 percent of the suspects.

"This shows how important it is to get started early on with the fight against intensive offenders and, above all, to work preventively with adolescents," said Reul.

It is positive that many families are now opening their doors to the police because they want a better life for their children.

In the “Get a curve” dropout program, experts are currently working with 34 children from family clans known to the police.

With 113 clan names listed in the current situation report, the number of suspected large families has remained largely stable over the years.

Reul pointed out that most people with the appropriate names would not have been guilty of anything.

"But it doesn't help to get caught up in old debates that only lead to the problem not being clearly identified because you're supposedly stigmatizing someone," says Reul.

Instead, one must clearly name horse and rider.

"Only then do we have a chance of successfully counteracting these structures that have grown over decades."