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Emergency forces in Berlin: Investigations into smuggling foreigners
Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa
All over Germany, emergency services have been taking action against a suspected smuggler gang since early Wednesday morning.
Federal police and customs searched numerous homes and companies, with a focus on Berlin and Brandenburg, said a spokeswoman for the authorities.
The number of searches nationwide is in the middle double-digit range, it said.
In addition, several arrest warrants were carried out.
Around 20 people are suspected.
Among other things, they are said to have issued temporary workers from non-EU countries as EU citizens with forged identity documents and referred them to large German logistics companies.
The suspects would have kept the money that these companies would then have paid as wages for the temporary workers.
Forgery of documents, undeclared work, illegal employment
The Berlin public prosecutor's office is investigating the smuggling of foreigners in a gang and for gainful employment, forgery of documents, organized undeclared work and illegal employment.
In a communication from the investigators, there is talk of a "conspiratorial network of different companies at home and abroad".
There are searches in a total of twelve federal states, in Berlin and Brandenburg alone more than a dozen objects are said to have been searched.
Numbers and details on other federal states were initially not known.
A total of around a thousand officials are said to be on duty.
The accused's homes, business premises, logistics centers and employees' living quarters are therefore affected by the measures.
Nationwide, the federal police are expecting confiscated assets in the tens of millions.
"Today's measures in Berlin and other federal states are an important sign: the rule of law is vigilant," said the Berlin police union.
"It is incredibly perfidious to want to make money with people's misery, to shamelessly exploit their helplessness and the desire for a better life."
mxw / dpa