Dozens of police officers conducted large-scale raids against a suspected migrant smuggling gang across three German states on Tuesday (November 7).

Authorities searched 18 locations across Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, handing out arrest warrants to three suspected smugglers during the operation, a police spokesman told the German Press Agency (dpa).

The smugglers are suspected of transporting migrants from the Austrian-Serbian border to Germany in the back of vans and cars in what police described as inhumane conditions – some are also suspected of drug trafficking. Police added that the investigation has been underway since April.

In four proven cases from the beginning of April to June 2023, the men are said to have smuggled almost 60 people, police said in a statement.

Who are the suspected smugglers?

The gang of ten men between the ages of 20 and 43 is said to have brought people to Germany via the Balkan route and smuggled them in to the country.

One of the suspected smugglers, a 30-year-old Syrian, was reportedly arrested in Berlin-Lichtenberg. He is said to have primarily organized the smuggling and in some cases he is also alleged to have driven the vans himself, according to police. The man rented a van to smuggle 17 Syrian nationals – unsecured in the back of the vehicle from Poland to Germany. He then "ignored the police's stop signs and had an accident while attempting to escape in the Spree area in Taubenheim near Bautzen," police said.

Police also arrested a 20-year-old in the Brandenburg town of Dallgow-Döberitz, as well as a 27-year-old German national in Luckenwalde who is suspected of being involved in organizing smuggling migrants into Germany and dealing drugs.

Seven other suspects are reportedly still being sought by police.

Brandenburg calls for tougher asylum policy spurs raids

Police launched the raids in the Berlin districts of Lichtenberg, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Treptow-Köpenick, Neukölln and Reinickendorf as well as the state of Brandenburg in Luckenwalde (Teltow-Fläming district), Dallgow-Döberitz (Havelland district) and Ortrand (Oberspreewald-Lausitz).

Around 140 federal police officers and 80 police officers from Brandenburg were on duty during the raids.

In late September, German police launched raids in five states and issued arrest warrants against five people suspected of migrant smuggling.  

Arrest warrants were issued against two women and a man in the northern town of Stade and a woman and a man in the western town of Gladbeck, a federal police spokesperson said, reported dpa.  

More than 350 German federal police officers were involved in the raids over all.

The police raids come on the heels of the news that the administrative districts in the state of Brandenburg are calling for a tougher asylum policy, after the numbers of arrivals from across the border increased significantly in the last few months. 

With dpa