Aged just 11, the young boy is responsible for more than seventy burglaries.

Last Thursday, the authorities arrested a youth during an attempted burglary in Norderstedt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Aged just 11, the young boy was the leader of a gang of youngsters responsible for more than 70 burglaries. The child, who arrived in Germany in November as an unaccompanied minor, is now being held in a „secure facility” near Hamburg.

However, given his age, he cannot be held criminally liable, the Bild reports. The situation is complicated by the Hamburg senate’s policy of banning „secure” facilities in the state. Due to the seriousness of the crimes he is accused of, officials do not consider it appropriate to place the youngster in one of the regular youth migrant centres so he must be transferred to another federal state with adequate facilities.

Thomas Jungfer, regional president of the German Police Union, criticised the current approach. As he put it, „a child who knows he cannot be held responsible and behaves brazenly and defiantly must face a clear rule-of-law response”.

The police said the boy did not act alone, but headed a group of migrant youths, including a 16-year-old Tunisian who was also arrested. Both were staying at an emergency shelter for children and young people in Hamburg, an institution where the police have to make regular visits because of the constant trouble there.

Since the beginning of the year, the police have received 280 calls from the centre. Incident reports show 101 assaults, 29 drug abuses, 30 attacks on staff members, 42 threats of violence and 35 cases of property damage.

The shelter, Hamburg’s only crisis facility for minors, is severely understaffed and overcrowded. 120 children are housed in a place designed to accommodate 102.