The “Arab clan” organised crime gangs in Berlin are using asylum centres in the German capital to recruit new drug dealers from the migrant population and extorting others.

Andreas Meyer, a former employee at one of the migrant centres in Berlin, has told how limousines would pull up to the centre at night containing Arab clan criminals who would recruit young 18- to 20-year-old migrants into the drug trade, Die Zeit reports.

Meyer said the meetings between the gangsters and the migrants would last around half an hour and the migrants would be given drugs like marijuana or heroin to sell. The media does not want to talk about the issue, he added.

Benjamin Jendro of the Berlin Police Union agreed with Meyer saying: “The young refugees have no one here to stop them.”

“They see peers who are driving an Audi Q8 and hear how easy it is to get there, and they want that too. You can not blame them.”

There is also an advantage for the criminal gangs to recruit migrants, as they have no criminal history in Germany and if they are underage they will not face trials in adult courts.

“For the [Arab] clans, there is no risk,” Jendro said noting that most of the migrants would never be inducted into the inner circle of the organisations. Even if caught, they would have no meaningful information to give authorities.

The Arab clans have also been getting into the business of migrant accommodation, often inflating prices and extorting migrants. Gangs have even taken money from migrants who do not live in the accommodation.

In Italy, the mafia has also been accused of setting up migrant homes with substandard conditions, due to the fact the Italian government has been overstretched with the massive number of migrants continually arriving.

Italian prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro said earlier this week: “There is a mass of money intended for the reception of migrants that is attracting the interests of Mafia organisations.”

Organised criminals are not the only ones trying to recruit in asylum homes – many have warned about radical Islamist Salafists going into the homes under the guise of charity work.

German investigative journalist Shams Ul-Haq claimed Islamic radicalism is rife in asylum homes across Germany. When staying at the largest asylum home in Berlin, Ul-Haq said he had even heard migrants talking about a potential Islamic State cell in Berlin.

In December 2016, failed Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri killed 12 people at a Christmas Market in Berlin and was found to be linked with several Salafist organisations in the city.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com