Friday September 30, 2022
From file: Police take a man into custody in Baden Württemberg | Credit: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Puchner
Police in the German state of Baden-Württemberg on Wedesday carried out raids on 18 apartments and two restaurants thought to be involved in an alleged migrant smuggling gang. One man was arrested.
Police investigators in the city of Stuttgart and state prosecutors in the city of Lorrach in the German state of Baden-Württemberg on Wedneday (September 28) stated they had arrested one suspect thought to be involved in an alleged migrant smuggling gang.
Fifteen other suspects were also searched during raids on 18 apartments and two restaurants. Two of the main suspects are being accused of falsifying documents and having smuggled foreigners in to the country, reported the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP).
Four further men, who are reported to hold Turkish nationality, are accused of having helped the gang with their operations. A further nine Turkish nationals are accused of having used the false documents to extend their permission to stay in Germany.
From Turkey to GermanyThe two main suspects and their helpers are accused of having brought the Turkish citizens via Italy, and Austria or Switzerland into Germany. The smuggled people were provided with fake Italian permits to stay in Europe, which they are then accused of having used to gain permission to stay in Germany. Fake documents were found during the raids on Wednesday, according to police statements.
Police had been reportedly investigating the alleged gang for over a year after receiving a tip off about their activities.
Other alleged smuggling cases
Federal police in the Lake Constance region, around the town of Lindau, were reportedly also busy rounding up alleged migrant smuggling gangs.
On Tuesday, police said they had found migrants from Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, whom they believed were brought into Germany by smugglers, reported regional state broadcaster SWR.
Police said they they had been observing a 24-year-old Somalian man, already known to the police, who is accused of having smuggled a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old girl from Somalia into Germany. The two minors were reprtedly taken into the care of the youth services.
Police in Baden-Württemberg are also investigating a Pakistani man who is accused of having smuggled three young men between the ages of 19 and 21 from Afghanistan into Germany. At least two of the young Afghans had already been registered in Croatia where they are due to be sent back.