German police conduct raids on suspected people smugglers

BERLIN (AP) — German police have conducted a major raid against a group of suspected people smugglers. German news agency dpa reported that around 400 officers, among them federal police and GSG 9 special units, searched more than 20 apartments and offices, mainly in Berlin, but also in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Five men were arrested in the early Wednesday raids, four of them in Berlin and one in the city of Halle, while another 12 suspects were under investigation. Dpa reported that people paid thousands of euros to be smuggled from Turkey and Iraq to Germany. Some of them were found in the searched apartments on Wednesday.