Danish biker gang ordered to disband in landmark case
Michael Barrett – michael@thelocal.dk : 29 Oct, 2025
https://www.thelocal.dk/20251029/danish-biker-gang-ordered-to-disband-in-landmark-case
Danish biker group Bandidos has been ordered to disband following a ruling at Helsingør District Court on Wednesday.
The group has appealed the ruling and will seek acquittal, its lawyer told news
wire Ritzau.
In a brief statement explaining the ruling, the presiding judge said the court had found that Bandidos, alongside a legal purpose, also pursues an illegal one.
This conclusion is partly based on crimes committed by the club’s members.
The court also found that Bandidos constitutes a single, unified association. This was a key question in the case, along with whether the organisation has a legal purpose.
Section 78 of the Danish constitution protects the right to form associations, but they can be banned if they are proved to have illegal purposes.
During the trial, the prosecution presented court rulings, internal documents and communication records in an effort to prove the group is a formal association with illegal purposes.
The court also agreed to the prosecution’s request for the confiscation of a large number of Bandidos-related items.
“This ruling makes it clear that serious, organised crime can no longer be carried out under the guise of being a motorcycle club,” special prosecutor Halit Sert said after the verdict, according to Ritzau.
The last time an association was dissolved by court order was in 2021, when the Supreme Court disbanded the street gang Loyal to Familia (LTF).
Wednesday’s case, originally launched in 2023, sees Bandidos follow LTF by being legally disbanded under a law that makes it punishable to wear the gang’s symbols, for instance.
Unlike LTF, Bandidos is a traditional biker gang which, alongside, Hells Angels, has dominated organised crime in Denmark over the decades, although these biker gangs are now seeing themselves challenged by other types of gang including “hybrid” groups, according to experts.
In May last year, police imposed a temporary ban on Bandidos, allowing them to close all Bandidos clubhouses and making it illegal to wear patches or other clothes and items featuring the Bandidos insignia.
At the same time, authorities, including the Debt Agency, launched special investigations against Bandidos members
“We are chasing the money,” prosecutor Lasse Boje said at a press conference at the time.
Over 30 court sessions have now resulted in the Helsingør court ruling that the ban can be made permanent.
The decision by Bandidos to appeal the ruling means the case will be heard by the Østre Landsret high court at a later date.
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