The gangs are believed to be spreading radical views through cultural events | Peter Kneffel/EPA German authorities monitor Turkish gangs, hard rock bands Bands are similar to Hells Angels, interior ministry says.

The German security service is watching Turkish gangs and hard rock bands that are believed to be spreading radical views through cultural events, local media reported Monday.

Those hard rock bands, mostly active in the southern state of Bavaria, have a strict hierarchy and group structure similar to the motor clubs Hells Angels or Bandidos, the Interior Minister said in a response to parliamentary questions by the Greens.

Since 2016, the security service has been monitoring their criminal links, after members were accused of illegal drug trafficking and criminal links with Russia and Italy.

Green MP Katharina Schulze says that the links to organized crime require "special attention," but according to the report, the German Interior Ministry said it sees no direct connection with structural crime.