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German authorities in the eastern German city of Leipzig and the surrounding state of Saxony carried out a series of raids. Around 1,000 officers took part in the raids following investigations into around 50 Syrians suspected of smuggling and the abuse of identity papers.

According to reports in the German press, including regional broadcaster MDR, Der Spiegel and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, German prosecutors in Leipzig ordered the raids after initiating investigations against a range of Syrian men and women, ranging in age from 20 to 57 years old. The suspects are reported to have been living in Germany but are accused of misusing their legal identity papers. Some of those caught in the raids are also accused of entering Germany illegally, as well as smuggling other migrants into the country.

A German police statement said that the suspects are accused of having sent their own identity papers to Syria. These were then used by people who looked similar to them to enter Germany under false identities.

Marcel Pretzsch, a spokesperson for the German police, said that the alleged scam had come to the notice of embassy staff and airport border checks.

Part of organized crime operations?

Further investigations are needed, and the authorities are working in conjunction with organized crime units, known as "Taskforce Clan" to see to what extent this group of people may have also been operating under clan-like structures.

The German police teams are reported to have raided several houses and apartments as well as some businesses in Leipzig and the surrounding area. Some of those targeted in the raids are people who sent out their own identity documents, and others are suspected of having entered Germany irregularly by these methods.

Those who are found to have entered Germany irregularly have had their details turned over to the authorities, said a statement by the police, reported in Der Spiegel. However, no arrests took place on Tuesday, confirmed Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

Uncovered at the airport

The "scam" or "trick" was uncovered when people who didn’t look exactly like the person on the identity card were stopped at the airport, reported FAZ. Some of the controls happened already at the controls as people were attempting to board planes towards Germany in the Middle East.

According to FAZ, German police officers and visa officials are now working in conjunction with some airline companies to prevent this kind of abuse taking place. The newspaper reported from "many cases" coming to police attention.

Most of the raids took place around one area of Leipzig, which has a higher concentration of migrants in the area. Other raids were carried out in nearby areas.

Around 1,000 police officers took parts in the raids, which were made against properties and businesses across the Leipzig area. Police believe there may be similar cases occuring across Germany | Photo: Tobias Junghanns/dpa/picture alliance

'Word of mouth'

According to Maik Fischer, one of the German police spokespeople who talked to FAZ, the scam was advertised by word of mouth among the Syrian community. In some cases, think the police, people paid money for the use of one of these identity cards. Police believe that this kind of scheme is also happening in other parts of Germany.

Last year, the local newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung already reported on a similar case that took place in Leipzig. In that case a Syrian woman told the Leipzig Foreigners Office (Ausländerbehörde) that she had lost two identity cards. When asked for the new passports, she sent photos of a Syrian woman who was, at the time, reported to be living in Turkey.

The husband of the Syrian woman then reportedly sent the new passports by post from Leipzig to Turkey, stated the newspaper.

A separate case in Stuttgart

Also on Tuesday, according to a press release on the German Police in Stuttgart (Bundespolizeidirektion Stuttgart), officers went to a property in Rottenburg am Neckar, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, owned by a Syrian national.

According to the police report, the 30-year-old Syrian is suspected of advertising smuggling services to migrants. Prosecutors believe they have evidence of him having arranged at least 15 smuggling operations, bringing in at least 66 people to Germany.

Most of these people are believed to have been brought over the Polish border to Germany. Prosecutors believe he was advertising his services via the messenger service Telegram. They also found video evidence of some of the alleged smuggling operations, which they said was being used to advertise further and drum up more business.

Police said they have seized the man’s mobile phone and other property to prepare a case against him.

There were almost a million Syrians living in Germany according to the last census at the end of 2024. Syrians are among the most frequent nationalities to have acquired German residency in the last decade, since many of them arrived in 2015 and 2016 and were granted refugee status or asylum, which they later converted into residency and even citizenship.