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Search in Berlin: Use against human smugglers
Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa
Two suspected smugglers were arrested during simultaneous searches in Berlin and Bratislava.
A spokesman for the federal police said they were accused of commercial smuggling.
The arrests were made during a nationwide operation against organized human smugglers.
Around 700 officials were on duty, it said.
The operation continued in the morning.
According to the federal police, 33 objects were searched simultaneously from 6 a.m. on Monday - in Berlin, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as well as in the capital of Slovakia.
The focus of the operation was therefore with 16 objects in Berlin.
One of the two main suspects was also arrested there.
Another woman was caught in Bratislava, it said.
The women are considered to be the masterminds behind the smuggling, according to the spokesman for the federal police.
The accused from Berlin is a Vietnamese citizen.
Forced to work in nail or massage parlors
The women are said to have smuggled Vietnamese into Germany via conspiratorial apartments in Slovakia.
The spokesman for the federal police said that "smuggling wages" of 13,000 to 21,000 euros were required.
"Since the people could not raise this money immediately, they were forced to work off the smugglers' wages." This happened in nail or massage studios or in so-called brothel apartments.
According to the spokesman, the Federal Police Inspectorate for the fight against crime in Halle (on the Saale) was carried out on behalf of the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office and the Leipzig Public Prosecutor's Office.
This is embedded in investigations by the police authority of the European Union, Europol.
During the searches, numerous documents, data carriers and bank details were secured, the police said.
Victim protection is of particular importance in the deployment.
Almost 50 people were found in the searched objects.
It will be checked whether there is a special need for protection, said the spokesman.
Specially trained officials are involved in the operation.
wit / dpa
