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German police start raid against human smuggling rings

Xinhua, November 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The German Federal Police started on Wednesday a large-scale raid against suspected international organized human smuggling rings.

The actions began early Wednesday morning and covered a total of 24 apartments in several German states, according to reports by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

A police spokesperson was quoted as saying that approximately 500 police officers have been involved in the raid, including special forces units.

Behind this big raid is reportedly an investigation by prosecutors in Lower Saxony state into the prosecution of organized smuggling crimes. German authorities assume that many refugees have been brought to Germany by criminal gangs.

Germany's Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) has recently warned of an international network of traffickers in the light of large number of refugees from Afghanistan. Endit