Nearly 200 Germans died and thousands were left homeless in floods in July, but predominantly criminal foreigners took advantage of their misery to enrich themselves. There were news reports about isolated looting and robberies during the deadly German floods that killed an estimated 182 people and led to billions in damage, but only now are details about who exactly was involved in the crimes is coming to light.

During the flooding, which hit the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate hard, there were robbery sprees in abandoned hops, burglars who rummaged for loot through damaged houses, and gangs who stole what few belongings’ owners had left to dry on streets and gardens.

Rumours that the looters were predominately foreigners was dismissed by mainstream media as ‘right-wing propaganda’ or disinformation. However, as more information flows in, it is becoming increasingly clear that these were not isolated cases, and that the vast majority of these incidents were indeed committed by migrants or those who were other than European.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group requested information from the German Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, which was also made available to German newspaper Junge Freiheit. The AfD requested the data for a meeting of the interior committee on Thursday in the state parliament about looting and similar crimes were recorded by the police during the floods.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the district police authorities recorded 193 property crimes in 24 cities, of which 27 were rated as attempts. Property crimes include theft, particularly serious theft, break-ins, serious gang theft, and embezzlement. The damage has so far been estimated at around a quarter of a billion euros, although the figures are to be regarded as provisional and may increase.

The police identified 145 suspects between the ages of 12 and 69. Suspects with Romanian citizenship made for the largest group of suspects. The police counted a total of 52 of them, while only 27 individuals born in Germany but not necessarily of European ethnicity are listed in second place. The ethnicity of the around 81% of suspects are of non-German origin.

In addition, there were 12 Turkish suspects, seven Bulgarian, seven Syrian, four Serbian, three Albanian, three Greek, three Iraqi, three Iranian, three Kosovar, and three Polish. Two suspects each came from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Morocco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, and Nigeria. The authorities also registered individual suspects from Bangladesh, Cameroon, the Congo, Lithuania, Russia, and Slovenia. Thus, 118 of the 145 suspects had no German citizenship, which corresponds to around 81 percent.

For the AfD, the overwhelming proportion of foreigners among the looters once again prove. According to AfD parliamentary group leader Markus Wagner, ‘how urgent it is to finally remove your rose-coloured glasses’. He added: ‘It is shocking when people, no matter where they come from, take advantage of the plight of others,’ he added. 

The AfD has proved that Germany’s substantial increase in immigration has led to an increase in crime, terror, sexual assaults, and integration issues, which requires the German government to start implementing measures to bring immigration under control, which includes the deportation of migrant criminal convicts, which Germany currently struggles to accomplish.

Title image: A woman throws away rubbish in the center of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany, Monday July 19, 2021. More than 180 people died when heavy rainfall turned tiny streams into raging torrents across parts of Western Germany and Belgium, and officials put the death toll in Ahrweiler county alone at 110. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen).