Agency Report –
Hundreds of German police officers on Wednesday detained several suspects in raids on people traffickers across Germany and the Czech Republic.
Around 800 German officers were involved in searches of residences and suspected brothels.
In total, some 25 buildings in 10 German states and six in the Czech Republic were targeted.
The suspects are alleged to have forced women into prostitution, according to the German Interior Ministry.
A police spokesman said the network smuggled women mainly from Vietnam into the European Union using fraudulent visas and forced them into prostitution.
The operations were carried out in coordination with Europol – the EU’s police agency – and have largely been completed.
The investigations targeted gangs that have smuggled people to the United Kingdom via Denmark.
Since October 2023, German police have arrested more than 2,000 people smugglers through border controls, with the number of trafficked people being discovered dropping from 40,000 to 10,000 last year.
“Controls work,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
Faeser emphasized that increased recruitment has also played a role here. “We have strengthened the Federal Police by 1,000 posts in recent years.”
