700 police bust Vietnamese trafficking ring in Germany

BERLIN – More than 700 police officers searched 30 homes and businesses across Germany on Tuesday in a crackdown on human trafficking from Vietnam, authorities said.

The raids focused on 13 suspects, all Vietnamese, who were alleged to have illegally trafficked at least 155 of their fellow country people into Germany. Six arrests were made in the raids in Saxony and Berlin and four other German states, federal police spokesman Axel Bernhardt said.

Investigators allege the traffickers charge people between 5,000-20,000 dollars (4,500-18,000 euros) to smuggle them in to Germany, and that many of the undocumented immigrants end up having to work in nail parlours, restaurants or sweat shops to pay back their debts.