German mass raids target forced prostitution gang

More than 100 people have been detained across Germany in raids against an organised crime gang involved in people trafficking and forced prostitution.

Germans and Thais were among those held as police commandos targeted dozens of brothels and flats in 12 states.

Women and transsexual victims were smuggled in on fake visas, police say.

“Hundreds of women and men fell prey for years and across borders to the traffickers’ inhuman, boundless greed,” said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

Seventeen suspects were believed to be at the heart of the crime gang. One house in the university town of Siegen was raided, where police detained a Thai woman, described in some German reports as the head of the traffickers.

Once the victims had reached Germany from Thailand, they were put to work, moving around a network of brothels, police said. They were forced to pay back all the money they earned, ostensibly to pay back up to €36,000 (£31,000; £44,000) for their fraudulent visa into Europe’s border-free Schengen zone.

Brothels and flats were searched in several cities, including Dortmund, Bremen, Gelsenkirchen and Düsseldorf.

Hundreds of thousands of people work in the sex industry in Germany, where prostitution became legal in 2002.

German MPs tightened the laws last year in an attempt to crack down on exploitation. Sex workers are now required to register with local authorities and it is illegal for people knowingly to use workers forced into prostitution.

Wednesday’s raids were described by Germany’s federal police as the biggest in their history.

Source: BBC News