Crime: Illegal employment and human trafficking? Arrests and raids
Hundreds of emergency responders are searching hotels and cleaning companies. It's about illegal work and human trafficking - and a lot of money. Authorities are talking about a blow to organized crime.
German authorities have arrested 10 suspects, including the alleged leader of a gang, in a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking and illegal work. The 50-year-old suspect is accused of smuggling people into Germany and using them for cleaning work across the country for profit since 2022. Around 2,200 police and customs officers took part in the raids, which targeted hotels and cleaning firms in several states, including Berlin, Hamburg, and Nordrhein-Westfalen.
The authorities have frozen assets worth 106 million euros and are investigating 23 suspects aged 31-59. The alleged gang is suspected of exploiting people from Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Georgia, using fake documents and paying them lower wages than German colleagues.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
