By Axel Lier and Olaf Selchow
Big hit against people smuggling!
On Wednesday morning, special forces of the Federal Police took action against an internationally active gang of people smugglers on Ebersstrasse (Schoeneberg) and Harzer Strasse (Neukölln).
There were further searches in Forst (Brandenburg), Görlitz (Saxony) and Siegen (North Rhine-Westphalia). A total of 14 objects were searched and several arrest warrants were executed. A network of Syrian and Iraqi smugglers is suspected.
A spokesman for the federal police on the BZ: “The smuggler organization is accused of having carried out at least 60 smuggling operations with at least 300 smugglers.”
The smuggling is said to have been carried out mainly with vans and cars. The smuggler route is said to have initially led via Belarus to Germany.
3,500 to 10,000 euros for smuggling
“Due to the increased pressure to be pursued, a switch to the Balkan route was evident,” the spokesman continued. The smugglers are said to have demanded amounts between 3,500 and 10,000 euros for a smuggling to Germany.
“In order to assert their financial interests, they should not have shrunk from intimidating smugglers with threats to their physical integrity or life and through the use of violence.”
It is still unclear how many of the suspects were arrested in the morning. There were three arrest warrants for Berlin, two in Forst and one in Siegen. The suspects and alleged main organizers are three Syrian and three Iraqi nationals aged between 25 and 45.
The federal police searched eight properties in Forst, three in Berlin, two in Siegen and one in Cottbus. Including the apartments of those arrested.
background: The Federal Police Inspectorate for Combating Crime in Halle (Saale) is conducting the investigations on behalf of the public prosecutor’s office in Görlitz in a special commission together with the Federal Police Inspectorate in Ludwigsdorf.
The starting point of the investigations was an accumulation of deportation smuggling in the area of responsibility of the Federal Police Inspectorate in Ludwigsdorf and in the wider Saxon border area since August 2021.