As of: February 21, 2024, 12:23 p.m
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Police forces leave a building.
© Justin Brosch/dpa
The federal police arrested numerous people on Wednesday 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 deployed in the most populous federal state alone also included heavily armed special forces from the federal police.
Sankt Augustin/Berlin - 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 had previously announced, 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.
dpa