As of: February 21, 2024, 12:51 p.m
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A police officer stands in front of a broken window and photographs the scene in Düsseldorf.
© Justin Brosch/dpa
Officials take action against a suspected smuggling gang in a major operation.
In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, around 700 emergency services are involved in the raids.
This also includes special forces.
Sankt Augustin/Berlin/The Hague - It's about a suspected smuggling network and boats used to cross the English Channel to Great Britain.
Hundreds of officers, some heavily armed, took part in a large-scale operation in Germany on Wednesday coordinated by Europol in several European countries.
The federal police arrested numerous people in the major raid against suspected members of a smuggling gang in four federal states, with a focus on North Rhine-Westphalia.
Arrest warrants in the double-digit range were executed, a spokesman for the Federal Police in North Rhine-Westphalia told the German Press Agency.
The approximately 700 emergency services that were deployed in the morning and mid-morning in the most populous federal state alone also included heavily armed special forces from the federal police.
The more than 20 locations in North Rhine-Westphalia are located in Düsseldorf, Cologne and Detmold, among others.
As a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior previously said upon request, the action in North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein involves the execution of several European arrest warrants.
The police authorities in France and Belgium are also involved.
The suspects are said to have been involved in smuggling across the English Channel.
According to dpa information, this suspected smuggling network involves, among other things, the procurement of boats to cross the English Channel.
In the north of France, for several years now, when purchasing certain boats and boat engines, it has been necessary to present ID and provide a telephone number.
This regulation was passed as a measure against smuggling into Great Britain.
In connection with the major raid on Wednesday, the spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalia Federal Police also reported search warrants intended to secure evidence.
Europol - the police authority of the European Union - initially only confirmed that it was an operation in several European countries.
Details of the operation would only be announced on Wednesday afternoon, said a spokeswoman in The Hague.
It is not the first time that the police in Germany have become active in connection with smuggling to Great Britain.
According to Europol, investigators in five countries busted one of Europe's largest smuggling gangs in a large-scale cross-border operation in 2022.
The gang, which was the focus of the investigation at the time, is said to have smuggled thousands of people in rubber dinghies across the English Channel to Great Britain.
At that time, large amounts of cash and firearms were discovered during searches in Germany, along with numerous inflatable boats and motors.
dpa