Germany-wide police raids target alleged worker trafficking

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — German police and customs officers have conducted dozens of raids and arrested at least nine people in a crackdown on the alleged human trafficking of temporary workers from outside the European Union. Authorities say they are investigating around 20 suspects for suspected involvement in allegedly forging EU citizenship documents and placing the workers, most of them from Ukraine and Moldova, with large logistics companies. Federal police in Berlin and prosecutors said that more than 2,200 police and customs officers were involved in Wednesday’s raids. The federal police say the suspects allegedly operated a network of temporary employment agencies in the Baltics and in Germany, including dummy companies.