2023-06-02 15:25:59
CRIME
Denmark’s police have launched an investigation aimed at disbanding the Danish branch of the notorious Bandidos biker gang, which has been blamed for a string of crimes since it was established 30 years ago.
Published: 2 June 2023 15:47 CEST
A Bandidos banner hangs on the gang’s clubhouse on Industriparken 31 in Jyderup in northwest Zealand. Photo: Ritzau/Scanpix
Denmark’s justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, announced the investigation’s launch in a press release on Friday, saying that he looked “very positively” at the National Unit for Special Crime seeking authorisation from the chief of police to launch the investigation.
In 2021, Denmark’s Supreme Court ruled that the Loyal To Familia gang could be disbanded under law, making it punishable to wear the gang’s symbols, for instance.
For the Bandidos gang to be similarly disbanded the police and prosecutor’s office must show that there is sufficient evidence that the organisation has an “illegal purpose” to overcome the right to free assembly enshrined within the Danish constitution.
The Bandidos gang, formed in San Leon, Texas, as far back as 1966, and expanded into Europe in 1989, setting up in Denmark in 1993. It now has branches and clubhouses in several places in Denmark.
According to the press release the National Unit for Special Crime hopes to complete its investigation by the end of the year.
Both the US Department of Justice and Europol, the EU police coordination body, describe the Bandidos to be a criminal organisation.
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