Several hundred police raid Gremium MC after banning three chapters

Raids across Baden-Württemberg

Several hundred police officers searched apartments and meeting points of the Gremium MC across Baden-Württemberg on Thursday, 12 November. The searches target suspected criminal activities of the rocker group, which is reported to be active in organised crime. Security circles told the German Press Agency (dpa) that the case concerns a planned club ban, a detail first reported by the Schwäbische Zeitung and Bild. On Thursday the state interior ministry in Stuttgart announced that the ban applied to the club's Chapter Nomads Bosporus Türkiye and to its Böblingen and Leonberg chapters. At the time of the announcement, enforcement of the ban was under way.

Club history and the 2021 ban

The Gremium Motorcycle Club was founded in Mannheim in 1972. In 2021 its Gremium MC Southgate chapter, based in the Heidelberg area, was banned on suspicion of organised crime. At that time the interior ministry described Gremium MC Germany as the largest national outlaw motorcycle gang. According to the ministry, the club aims for territorial and financial gains within the rocker scene and regularly tries to enforce those claims with violence. Stern reports that the club has a poor reputation with the authorities.

What the state security report says

The current security report of Baden-Württemberg uses the term outlaw motorcycle gang for rocker groups that reject the state's monopoly on force and are often counted as organised crime. According to the report, typical activities of such groups include extortion of protection money, drug trafficking and pimping. It classifies the Nomads Bosporus Türkiye as an outlaw motorcycle gang. The state counts 154 local chapters of rocker groups, also called chapters or charters, with more than 2,000 members in total. The report lists the Bandidos, the Hells Angels, the Outlaws and the Gremium MC as the largest and best-known rocker groups in the state.

Open questions

Interior Minister Manuel Hagel (CDU) was scheduled to present details of the operation at a press conference in Ludwigsburg on Thursday morning. The reports available so far contain no figures on arrests, seized items or the number of searched properties. The ban on the three chapters is the only measure confirmed by the ministry in the current reports.