Successful model: investigators from three departments hunt down clans, terrorists and mafia members

They track down criminal clans, identify the money flows of international terrorists, combat mafia members and social security fraudsters - the joint task force of investigators from the divisions of the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Finance is a success story. This afternoon, the three ministers Herbert Reul (Interior), Peter Biesenbach (Justice) and Lutz Lienenkämper (Finance) described how the special investigative unit founded in 2018 at the Düsseldorf State Criminal Police Office (LKA) works together. Their conclusion: the nationwide unique team of police officers, public prosecutors and tax investigators has initiated numerous important investigations that have already resulted in court rulings against internationally networked criminals.

The task force is made up of 18 police officers, 53 people from the tax investigation department as well as two senior public prosecutors and one public prosecutor. "The task force is virtually the largest interministerial workplace in the state government," said Interior Minister Reul. "Investigators are based here who take illegally acquired assets away from clan criminals, track down the money flows of international terrorists and hunt down the mafia in North Rhine-Westphalia. If crime knows no borders, if criminals organize themselves to commit their crimes, then the constitutional state must do the same - then we must move even closer together." Minister Peter Biesenbach also draws attention to a strategy that is used time and again in the concerted searches: "Since we are using the combined expertise of all three departments in line with the tried and tested motto 'Follow the money', we can take a better look behind the façade of serious crime, which often appears bland from the outside, and get to the bottom of the perpetrators' sources of funding. Even severe prison sentences do not hit the offenders as hard as when we track down the incriminated assets and take them away from them! In this way, we also deprive them of the financial means to commit further crimes."

Proceedings are also increasingly touching on cybercrime. The digital world is playing an increasingly important role in the commission of criminal offenses - and in this area, the cooperation partners benefit in particular from the intensive joint activities. For example, numerous colleagues from the financial administration at the LKA have state-of-the-art IT knowledge. Among other things, this has a positive effect in the fight against areas of crime in which cryptocurrencies are used. "Our colleagues are comprehensively trained specialists who have also become important helpers and advisors for the investigative complexes of federal authorities," explains Minister Lutz Lienenkämper. Minister Peter Biesenbach adds: "In several ZAC NRW investigations into trafficking in weapons or drugs, coordinated cooperation has already provided an important building block towards long-term prison sentences.
Cybercrime is a growing market with ever new manifestations. We are tackling this with combined expertise."

Extensive investigations into so-called "Hawala Banking" are a prime example of the effectiveness of the merged unit at the Düsseldorf LKA. Criminals use the system to transfer money between countries bypassing banks and the conventional financial system - a form of money laundering that is frequently used internationally. Based on the detailed work carried out in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Düsseldorf Regional Court sentenced five men to prison for smuggling more than 170 million euros to Turkey.

Other investigations have led to the arrest of money launderers operating from Italy. They are accused of large-scale trafficking in counterfeit money originating from the Naples area, forged official documents, fraudulently obtained rental and leasing vehicles and drugs. Currently, 80 suspects are being targeted. Investigators in North Rhine-Westphalia were able to seize the first counterfeit 100-euro bill from the new 100-euro bill series launched by the European Central Bank in May 2019.

The task force is also looking into the illegal claiming of social benefits. Criminals from abroad sent compatriots to Germany to claim child benefit from the NRW-West family benefits office. The money flowed into the criminals' coffers - the child benefit recipients returned immediately. The task force developed a data concept that significantly improved cooperation with local authorities and made the flow of money transparent. Together with the cities of Krefeld and Gelsenkirchen, tax losses amounting to around three million euros were prevented through concerted action. The concept of in-depth data analysis is now to be applied in other municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia. The cities of Duisburg, Essen and Wuppertal have already expressed great interest. "Other federal states and federal authorities have also benefited from our experience and our project," adds Reul.

Another area of investigation to which the team from North Rhine-Westphalia was able to make a decisive contribution concerns the fight against international terrorism. The task force initiated investigations into an Islamist association that had collected and falsely declared donations amounting to 25 million euros over a period of years. Suspicion: disguised financing of terrorist networks. The Federal Ministry of the Interior was ultimately able to confiscate the association's assets. Criminal proceedings were initiated for supporting a terrorist organization, terrorist financing and tax evasion, in which asset freezes of around one million euros were implemented. In this case complex, the expertise of the tax authorities came into play in particular. "Here, too, we were able to rely on our experts. We have an eye on international money flows. The criminals who rely on concealment through borders will have to dress warmly," says Minister Lienenkämper.

Interior Minister Reul adds: "These successes would have been impossible without the task force. It has found new ways and new solutions to problems where we have not made any progress with our previous approaches: interministerial, unconventional, different. Today we know: If we act together against crime, then we will also get the big fish."