Overview

• Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster has announced plans to expand the Gemeinsame Fahndungsgruppen (GFG) to enhance border security, though specific timelines and staffing details remain unclear.
• The GFG, established in 2006, currently operate at five locations in Saxony: Bautzen, Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig, and Zwickau, with about 50 officers, primarily working in plain clothes.
• Key tasks of the GFG include combating cross-border crime, such as auto theft by Eastern European networks using Autobahn 4, and intercepting human traffickers smuggling refugees into Germany.
• Four Fahndungskompetenzzentren in Saxony coordinate border operations with additional support from local police precincts near border areas.
• The proposal aligns with Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt's stricter migration policies, including the reversal of a 2015 asylum pushback ban and the introduction of enhanced border controls.