***Article first published by 'The Sun' on Oct. 16, 2018***

CARS bearing the logo of an elite Turkish police unit have been spotted on the streets of Berlin – but the German authorities say they are powerless to stop them.

The vehicles have the words Özel Harekat written on the side and the unit's logo and were seen cruising around areas of German capital with large Turkish populations.

At least three BMW 7 series cars have been spotted in the Wedding, Kreuzberg and Neukölln districts, it has been claimed.

They appeared on streets soon after the visit of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visit to Germany last month.

Berlin senator Hakan Tas, who is of Turkish origin, said he has complained to the authorities about the presence of the vehicles, which has left critics of Erdogan fearing for their safety.

“The idea that these vehicles of the Erdogan regime are now also on our streets and are observing its critics fills me with disquiet,” the Left Party politician told the Berliner Zeitung.

“These special forces are known to take care of the opposition in Turkey.”

Tas said he has personally seen the cars in areas where opponents of Erdogan live.

He told Morgenpost.de that “hundreds of Turkish intelligence agents are living in Germany, reporting directly to Ankara. That's what causes fear ".

Tas also said he has been told the cars could also belong to a nationalist group with links to the government.

Polis Özel Harekat – or Police Special Operations Department – were founded in 1982 and are trained to deal with situations such as hijacking and terrorism.

The local police said long as the cars didn’t display blue lights and their passengers were in plain clothes they could not take them off the streets.

They also questioned whether the cars were indeed from the Özel Harekat adding that "such cars do not drive around in Turkey”, Morgenpost reported.