Hostage-taking and welfare fraud – Six years in prison for Al-Zein clan boss

The head of a large family of Arabic origin has been sentenced to six years in prison in Düsseldorf for taking hostages and social fraud. Two of his sons each received three years in prison for dangerous bodily harm and commercial and gang fraud.

The district court ordered on Thursday that the 1,700-square-meter property with the family's property in Leverkusen will be confiscated. The clan chief's wife received a two-year suspended sentence and another son received a year and nine months suspended sentence.

The accused were guilty of "multiple crimes," the presiding judge said. The end of the process after six months of trial time was preceded by an agreement: in return for confessions, the accused were promised suspended sentences and imprisonment for a maximum of six years.

The verdict was preceded by a criminal agreement in the course of which the accused had confessed. The convicts are attributed to the Al-Zein clan, which is said to belong to several thousand people in North Rhine-Westphalia alone. The court had stopped the proceedings against a daughter and a daughter-in-law of the clan boss due to minor guilt against conditions.

They then admitted the allegations in mid-November. In the 127-page indictment, they are accused of various roles, including commercial and gang welfare fraud, hostage-taking, money laundering, kidnapping by extortion, dangerous bodily harm and tax evasion.

Despite considerable wealth, the accused are said to have received unjustified social benefits totaling 456,000 euros from the job center for more than six years by the end of June 2021. The job center paid the family of ten almost 5,200 euros from tax money every month. The family is said to have used the money to repay the loan for their villa with 300 square meters of living space in Leverkusen.

The police had stormed and searched the house, found live firearms and confiscated six-figure sums of cash and luxury watches worth 160,000 euros. The case had caused a nationwide sensation. A total of around 600 police officers were involved in the campaign in 15 NRW cities.

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