300 Berlin Police Search Nine Apartments and Hells Angels Clubhouse
About 300 Berlin police officers searched nine apartments and a Hells Angels clubhouse in the Biesdorf district in an evening raid on illegal firearms. One site was in Brandenburg. The operation was led by the Ferrum task force, which has opened more than 720 investigations.
About 300 Berlin police officers searched nine apartments and a Hells Angels clubhouse in the Biesdorf district in an evening raid against organized crime and illegal firearms, police said. One of the locations was in neighboring Brandenburg. Officers now have to evaluate the evidence.
The searches began shortly after 7 p.m., police spokesman Florian Nath said. Berlin's special police unit and federal police special forces took part. The elite federal unit GSG 9 is understood to be the force meant, and it is usually called in when suspects are considered armed and potentially dangerous.
Police arrived at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Biesdorf, in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district, with an armored vehicle. Nath said officers also searched private homes of people linked to the club or its circle.
Nath said the whole operation centers on firearms crime. He added that the motorcycle gang and other criminal groups overlap in places.
Further searches in firearms-law cases covered homes in Neukölln, Mitte, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Pankow, Lichtenberg and Treptow-Köpenick, he said.
Ferrum task force leads the operation
The raid ran under Ferrum, a special unit of the Berlin state criminal police office. It has targeted violent organized-crime groups and firearms owners in the city for almost exactly a year.
Shootings on Berlin's streets have become more frequent since 2025. Police say clan and gang rivalries are behind many of them, along with protection racketeering.
Ferrum was set up last autumn and has about 110 officers, with more drawn in for searches. Since its formation it has opened more than 720 investigations, police said. Of those, 483 have direct or indirect links to firearms-crime cases.
Police say the work has helped expose criminal structures, identify suspects and put some in custody. They also say pressure on those involved has risen markedly.
Gun violence remains high. In the first half of 2026, police recorded 585 offenses involving firearms in Berlin, including 324 threats and 261 cases of shots fired.
About the Hells Angels
The Hells Angels were founded in Fontana, California, in 1948, initially as a group of World War II veterans. The club has roughly 6,000 members and 467 charters, or local branches, worldwide.
Not every member is tied to criminal acts, though certain chapters have repeatedly drawn the attention of law enforcement. In the 1980s, two major federal cases in the U.S. tried to take the club down under organized-crime laws. Both ended without convictions.
Berlin police have not said whether any arrests were made. Evaluation of the seized evidence is the next step.
