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German police carried out mass raids on Tuesday targeting a trafficking ring accused of fraudulently using Syrian refugees’ residency documents to enable compatriots to come to Germany.
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Around 1,000 officers were deployed to search more than 50 residential and business premises in and around the eastern city of Leipzig, the federal police office in Halle an der Saale said.
Police believe the ring operated by using genuine residency documents issued to Syrian refugees in Germany, which were sent to people in Syria with a similar appearance.
Most of those targeted in the raids were suspected of allowing their documents to be used in the scheme, with a smaller number suspected of allowing “unauthorised entry” to Germany.
Police said they seized evidence including mobile phones, residency documents, records of flight bookings and at least €93,000 in cash.
In addition, “violations of narcotics and explosives laws” were identified and police said there were indications that some of the suspects had connections to organised crime.
Forty-four suspects underwent formal identification measures.
Many of the suspected cases of fraud were identified by “document and visa advisors” from the German police working at various airports in the Middle East.
Seventy-one such advisors have been deployed by the German federal police outside the EU since 2024 to help the visa sections at German embassies and consulates, as well as airlines at major international airports.
Germany is home to the largest Syrian diaspora in the European Union at more than 1 million, many of whom arrived during the peak of the migrant influx in 2015-2016.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz met Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in March and said the two leaders want 80% of Syrians in the country to return to their homeland.
After meeting al-Sharaa in Berlin, Merz said the two leaders were “working jointly towards more Syrians being able to return.”
The German chancellor, who has made a tougher immigration policy a priority since taking office last year, said he and al-Sharaa had agreed that eight out of 10 Syrians in Germany should go back “over the next three years.”
Al-Sharaa, 43, has managed to build relations with Western governments and made several overseas trips, including to the United States, France and Russia.
As a result, many international sanctions on Syria, imposed during the regime of former longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, have been lifted to help the country rebuild after a bloody 14-year civil war.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
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