German police simultaneously searched more than 60 homes and businesses in five states early Wednesday in connection with the alleged illegal trafficking of migrants for use in the meat industry.
Federal police said in a statement that the focus of their investigation was on two different temporary employment companies who allegedly trafficked 82 people mostly from eastern Europe to Germany in the last six months.
Nobody was arrested during the raids in eastern and northern Germany, but investigators confiscated documents and other evidence.
Officers of the federal police go into an apartment building as part of a search in Weissenfles, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. The federal police searched more than 60 residential and business premises in five states on Wednesday on suspicion of illegal smuggling of workers for the meat industry. Approximately 800 officers were involved in the raid - mainly in Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, according to a spokesperson for the Central German Federal Police. The nationwide raid on the illegal smuggling of workers for the meat industry will focus on Weissenfels. (Jan Woitasdpa via AP)
Ten suspects are accused of having forged documents and signed up the workers as fake university students pretending to work in holiday jobs.
The ten main suspects are aged between 41 and 56 years. Their identities were not given, but police said the eight men and two women stem originally from Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Kosovo. Police estimate that the suspects generated about 1.5 million euros ($1.75 million) in profits through their illegal scheme.
During the raids, police detained more than 20 workers who allegedly used forged student documents.
Several bigger coronavirus outbreaks at German meatpacking plants recently have revealed that many of the mostly migrant workers are often exploited and live in desolate, cramped conditions.