Samarovskaya Gruppa
The Samarowskaja Gruppa ( Russian Замаровская Группа ) is a Russian-speaking mafia organization that operates primarily in the German cities of Berlin and Cologne . According to various sources, the group is organized in cells similar to a terrorist organization and named after its alleged leader Leonid "Lev" Samarow ( Леонид "Лев" Замаров , English transcription Leonid "Lev" Zamarov ).
history
Raid and investigator breakdown
The group first became public knowledge in December 2013 after a large-scale, nationwide attack by the anti-terrorist unit GSG 9 .
After six months of surveillance by various police authorities in several federal states, a dozen apartments in Berlin and Cologne were searched on November 30, 2013 and December 1, 2013 and a total of four alleged members between the ages of 21 and 43 were arrested. During the searches, a tactical assault rifle of the type AKS-74U , a Micro- Uzi , four automatic pistols, three revolvers, a hand grenade and an M18 Claymore mine were found. In addition, € 20,000, 2.5 million rubles , several hundred rounds of ammunition, bullet-resistant vests , stealing electronics, narcotics, forged passports (with the necessary forgery tools) and paper rolls for Deutsche Bahn tickets were seized.
The alleged head of the organization was arrested at the same time in Berlin. The special command SEK , which is normally responsible for such special operations, felt overwhelmed by the situation after the hazard forecast and not adequately equipped, which is why the raid was assigned to GSG 9. The number of members was estimated by the police at around 30 people in the Cologne area alone, but arrest warrants were only issued for the management level around Leonid Samarov. The case was particularly explosive, as most of the weapons and explosives were in the basements of the Uni-Center , in the middle-class center of Cologne, and the entire building with its 1,500 residents was about to be evacuated. However, the explosives experts of the special unit succeeded in defusing the ordnance before the decision to evacuate was made. In this way the effort of the operation could be kept within limits.
However, the Federal Police had to put up with some unpleasant questions, as the Uni-Center is directly opposite the Cologne Justice Center . Nevertheless, a Russian gang was able to set up several conspiratorial rooms in the building and, until the time of access, operate undetected and undisturbed in front of the judiciary for about two years. According to credible sources, there was also an illegal arms factory that manufactured the firearms and explosives that were found. It had become known that the building's own security service had given the police several specific indications a long time beforehand, but it is still unclear why these were not checked.
Over 500 police officers were involved in the action throughout Germany. For the arrests in the Unicenter Cologne, the special forces advanced with an armored troop transport. The last time such a vehicle was used during an operation was during the RAF . The last deployment of the GSG 9 in the Unicenter was also during the RAF; at the same time the Lufthansa plane " Landshut " was hijacked by this organization. Despite the intensive investigations, it has so far been possible to uncover almost exclusively machinations carried out by the Cologne troops. It was not possible to clarify which business has taken place in Berlin.
Reproach
The actual accusation was limited to systematic forgery and fraud to the detriment of Deutsche Bahn. However, in the course of the investigation it became clear that the suspects are anything but harmless ticket sellers. On the one hand, numerous other machinations have come to light through the observations, on the other hand it became clear that the suspects were all members of a larger, interregional association and were also heavily armed.
The prohibited items found in the nationwide raid supplemented the alleged criminal offenses with:
- Form a criminal organization
- Illegal manufacture of weapons and possessions
- Illegal manufacture and handling of explosives
- Illegal production of identification documents
- Stolen goods
- Drug trafficking
- Computer fraud and forgery of documents
- Causing an explosive explosion
The causing of an explosion related to several explosive attacks on Deutsche Bahn paper storage facilities.
organization
The organization of the Samarowskaya Gruppa is largely unclear, as the entire group is organized in cells similar to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida . Otherwise, the connection in equipment, training and ideology is very similar to the terrorist formations mentioned. Since none of the detainees has testified so far, it is still unclear why the Samarowskaya was so heavily armed. In addition, triangle communication took place within the group (the members leave messages for themselves in call centers located in countries that do not cooperate with Germany). This makes it extremely difficult to assign roles, since it is not possible to trace who sent information and instructions to whom at what time.
method
What machinations the group engages in in detail is also hardly known. Only the business area of nationwide ticket counterfeiting has largely been uncovered:
- First, blank rolls were procured for the railway ticket machines, which were later printed with the necessary data and cut to size. Since the paper, including the hologram, watermark and UV mark, is original, the resulting product is almost completely identical to the original tickets.
- These deceptively real, high-priced long-distance tickets were then partly sold by trained street vendors to travelers via the Internet, and partly canceled in DB AG travel centers for cash payment of the full ticket value. In the six months of observation alone, the damage runs into the millions.
- The blank tickets came from blasted DB AG storage facilities.