Five alleged smugglers arrested in western Germany

As part of a number of coordinated raids, five individuals were arrested in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on suspicion of smuggling foreigners to Germany.

A 32-year-old Syrian national believed to be the leader of the group has been charged with people smuggling and document forgery, according to a statement released by the Federal Police headquarters in Stuttgart, which oversaw the operation.

In addition to the Syrian man, three of his brothers — aged 26, 29 and 31 — were also targeted as alleged supporters, organizers, and financial service providers attached to the illegal scheme.

The statement highlighted that at the time of the arrests, all four Syrian men were in possession of temporary residence permits for Germany.

Furthermore, a 42-year-old German-Iraqi national was also apprehended as an alleged supporter of the Syrian family’s smuggling activities.

“The five defendants are accused of working together and following a joint plan to recruit Syrian nationals who did not have valid entry and residence documents, smuggling them into Germany, and transporting them there,” the official press release reads.

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120 police officers involved in operation

The investigation into the alleged smuggling scheme had been in the making since the beginning of this year, culminating in the searches on September 29, which involved roughly 120 officials in total.

The Federal Police said that search warrants had been obtained to enter the registered addresses of four of the suspects in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. 

In addition to these four private residences, two business premises were also searched as part of the operation.

The searches took place in the towns of Mettmann, Bonn, Witten, and Sprockhövel, during which Federal Police officers confiscated several cell phones, documents, and a semi-automatic pistol for evidence.

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One-way tickets to Germany

According to the Federal Police, the suspects are accused of having facilitated the movement of Syrian migrants into the EU by hiding them in lorries traveling from Turkey into Greece.

The leader of the smuggling gang is accused of having provided these migrants with forged identity papers to facilitate their onward travel by aeroplane to Germany.

Officials are yet to disclose how much the gang charged for obtaining forged documents for these migrants.

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