Berlin, November 10th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – Berlin police launched a large-scale operation against firearms crime on Monday evening. According to a police spokesman, court-ordered searches were carried out at more than ten sites across the city to secure evidence.
More than 300 officers took part, among them Berlin’s special deployment command and special forces of the Federal Police. According to the “Tagesspiegel” daily, the elite unit GSG 9 was involved. The operation began shortly after 7 p.m. and was expected to continue into the night.
One focus was the Hells Angels motorcycle club. Police arrived at the group’s Berlin clubhouse in Biesdorf, a neighborhood in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district, in an armored vehicle. Several private apartments belonging to people considered part of the club or its circle were also searched.
Weapons Laws
Other measures were connected to separate proceedings under weapons laws. Apartments in Neukölln, Mitte, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Pankow, Lichtenberg and Treptow-Köpenick were targeted, and there was one search location in the state of Brandenburg.
The operation was led by a special investigative unit called “Ferrum”. Shootings on Berlin’s streets have become more frequent since 2025. Many are believed to be connected to rivalries between clans and gangs, while others are linked to protection rackets.
The unit has about 110 members, and additional officers are called in for searches and similar operations. As of October 23rd, “Ferrum” had opened more than 720 investigations, 483 of which were directly or indirectly connected to firearms crime, as the “Tagesspiegel” reports. In the police’s view, the work has helped to “shed light on criminal structures, identify and jail suspects”, and has increased pressure on those involved.
Still, the scale of gun violence in Berlin remains high. In the first half of 2026, police registered 585 offenses involving firearms. Of those, 324 were threats and 261 were cases of shots being fired.
