BERLIN (AP) — More than 1,000 police officers searched dozens of homes, stores and lawyers’ offices across western and southern Germany in a large-scale raid against an international human smuggling gang early Wednesday. Ten suspects were detained, German news agency dpa reported.
The suspects are accused of having taken advantage of special German immigration rules for skilled foreign workers to procure residency permits for around 350 mostly Chinese nationals in exchange for hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars).
Raids were carried out in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria, Hamburg and Berlin. Police seized assets and collected evidence. According to the daily Bild newspaper, several employees of immigration offices were bribed in the scam.
The investigation focused on North Rhine-Westphalia, where the 10 suspects were arrested. Among them were two lawyers, dpa reported.