Ten suspects were detained in a large-scale operation against an international smuggling network that illegally brought Chinese citizens to Germany, the German authorities announced.
In eight German states on Wednesday morning, more than 1.000 police officers and agents from various services took part in the raid.
More than 100 apartments and business premises were searched, including two law firms, the police in St. Augustine near Bonn said.
By abusing a special legal regulation to attract skilled labor from abroad, the smuggling gang obtained residence permits for about 350, mostly Chinese nationals. She charged each of them five- and six-figure sums in euros.
The main suspects are two lawyers, aged 42 and 46, from the Cologne area.
Through their offices, lawyers suddenly recruited well-to-do individuals, mostly from China and Arab countries, promising them permanent residence permits.
"With that perspective ... smuggled persons paid them between 30.000 and 350.000 euros," the police said.
The police emphasized that in this case, unlike most of the people brought into Germany by smugglers, it was about well-to-do customers.
The main suspects laundered the money by establishing fictitious companies, buying real estate and paying the salaries of non-existent workers.
One of those detained worked at the immigration office in Diren.
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