German police raid human trafficking network

German police conducted raids targeting human-trafficking networks across the country on Wednesday, searching properties in the Berlin region in particular, reported dpa.

Several arrests were made and dozens of premises were searched. While the focus was on Berlin, there were also actions in the surrounding state of Brandenburg and on the northern states of Lower Saxony and Bremen, a spokesperson said.

The raids focused on around 20 suspects, seen as members of an organized crime gang suspected of setting up a "conspiratorial web of various companies," prosecutors in Berlin, who led the operation, said.

The accused are believed to have used these companies, based in Balkan countries and in Germany, to employ temporary contract workers from countries outside the European Union, using forged documents for work in German logistics companies.

The money paid as wages to the workers was withheld by the suspects. The charges include human trafficking, forgery of documents, organized untaxed labour and illegal employment.

Some 1,000 officers were involved in the searches of the homes of the gang members, business premises, logistics centres and the accommodation provided to the workers.

Police were expecting to seize assets ranging to the tens of millions of euros.