Berlin Firearms Violence Surges: Task Force Ferrum Extended Indefinitely After 585 Cases in Six Months

Berlin's specialist anti-gun-crime unit Ferrum, founded on 13 November 2025 at the State Criminal Office (LKA), will continue operating indefinitely, a police spokesperson confirmed. Originally planned as a short-term measure, the unit of around 110 officers has since launched more than 720 investigations, arrested approximately 290 people, placed more than 5,200 individuals under temporary restrictions, and secured 80 arrest warrants — with 51 suspects currently in pre-trial detention. Officers have carried out more than 300 searches, checked 4,120 vehicles and 886 premises, and seized 73 firearms along with roughly 3,400 rounds of live ammunition. Extortion has been identified as a central focus of the unit's work, with gunfire used routinely as a tool of intimidation. A parallel unit, "Telum" — Latin for "offensive weapon" — was established within the Berlin public prosecutor's office to strengthen the response to organised crime. The continuing operation comes against a backdrop of sharply worsening gun violence: police recorded 585 firearms-related offences in the first half of 2026 alone, comprising 324 threats and 261 actual shots fired. Across the whole of 2025, 1,119 such cases were logged — a 68 percent rise compared with 2024. The Tagesspiegel had previously reported on the unit's ongoing activity.