They are said to have smuggled dozens of people into Germany under sometimes life-threatening conditions: Now the federal police have caught a gang of smugglers who are said to have been anchored primarily in northern Hesse.
Early on Tuesday morning, the federal police searched 20 properties in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria on suspicion of commercial and gang smuggling of foreigners. The focus was on northern Hesse. There were operations in Korbach, Frankenberg, Waldeck, Vellmar and Kassel.
A police spokesman said six arrest warrants had been executed. Those arrested are to be brought before the magistrate in Kassel in the course of the day.
Three of the alleged perpetrators were armed with firearms. Therefore, special forces of the Federal Police were deployed. A large amount of evidence was seized, including prohibited items such as a switchblade knife, a butterfly knife and a machete.
Dangerous transports on loading platforms
The six main suspects are therefore suspected of having smuggled mainly Syrian nationals from Belarus, Poland and Austria into Germany with rented vehicles for a fee. According to the federal police, the people were sometimes exposed to life-threatening circumstances. They were also transported on the loading areas of small vans.
In Germany, some people were housed in a so-called “safe house” in downtown Korbach before they went on to France, Belgium or the Netherlands.
At least 147 people smuggled in
The Federal Police estimates the number of people smuggled in this way to be at least 147. The suspects are said to have generally taken between 600 and 2,000 euros for their transports and thus earned a total of around 200,000 euros. The accused are also accused of smuggling in narcotics in the double-digit kilo range.
For the previous investigations, the federal police also worked together with the Austrian and Hungarian authorities.
hessenschau update – the newsletter for Hesse
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