German police conduct raids on suspected people smugglers
German authorities say police have conducted raids against a group suspected of smuggling about 90 people into the country, making five arrests
By AP News
Published - Mar 15, 2023, 01:12 PM ET
Last Updated - Jun 22, 2023, 04:05 PM EDT
BERLIN (AP) — German police on Wednesday conducted raids against a group suspected of smuggling about 90 people into the country, making five arrests, authorities said.
More than 20 apartments and offices in Berlin and the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt were searched, along with three vehicles and a bank safe in the Bavarian town of Hof, police and prosecutors in the German capital said in a joint statement.
Five men were arrested, four of them in Berlin and one in the city of Halle.
The group is suspected of bringing about 90 people, mostly from Turkey and Iraq, to Germany between October 2019 and January this year, with migrants paying up to 10,000 euros ($10,500) to be smuggled by car or truck along the so-called Balkan route.
