In the fight against suspected smugglers, the federal police searched several apartments and buildings in Berlin, in the Brandenburg forest and in Siegen (NRW) early on Wednesday morning. A spokesman for the federal police in Central Germany said it was about the commercial and gang smuggling of foreigners into Germany. Arrest warrants have been issued for six people. Four of the suspects had already been arrested on Wednesday morning, two in Berlin and two in Forst.
According to the federal police, 375 officers were involved in the raid. The operation was managed by the Federal Police Inspectorate in Dresden. The Federal Police Inspectorate for Combating Crime based in Halle is responsible for the raid, it said. The investigation itself is being conducted by the public prosecutor’s office in Görlitz.
According to the spokesman, the investigation has been going on for several months. It should be about 60 cases, 300 people were smuggled. Most of the people were brought to Germany illegally, primarily from Syria and Iraq via Belarus. Between 3,500 and 10,000 euros are said to have been collected per person. There were initial suspicions at the German-Czech and German-Polish borders, it said. According to the spokesman, the six suspects are Iraqi and Syrian nationals.
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