A criminal group gives people in Afghanistan other people’s ID cards with which they can enter Germany. The police are now searching the homes of the suspected smugglers and seizing drugs and weapons, among other things. Six people are suspects.
The federal police searched several properties in Hamburg and Berlin on suspicion of gang-like smuggling of foreigners. The officials checked a total of six apartments in the Hanseatic city and one in the capital, as a spokesman for the responsible federal police at Frankfurt Airport said. There were no arrests because, according to the police, there were no reasons for detention such as blackout or risk of flight for the six suspects.
Specifically, the six women and men between the ages of 25 and 47 are accused of having illegally provided Afghan nationals with real ID cards for their entry into the country. It is about smuggling on the route from the Iranian capital Tehran to Germany.
A total of 112 federal police investigators were involved in the searches. Among other things, they secured data storage devices, laptops, mobile phones and ID cards. In addition, the emergency services found cocaine with a street value of 6,000 euros, but also testosterone ampoules, amphetamine tablets, one-hand knives and a stun gun with ammunition. According to the information, the foreigners landed at Frankfurt Airport with documents that did not belong to them. That is why the federal police there is also responsible, they have been investigating the case since summer 2021.
“Again and again, foreign nationals are recruited under false promises of a life in Germany,” said the federal police and the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office in a joint statement after the action. “The financial distress and the often difficult political situation of foreign nationals in their country of origin are exploited in a targeted manner.”
