Overview
- Simultaneous actions targeted about 20 properties in four federal states, with major searches in Hannover and additional raids in Hildesheim, Kiel, Paderborn, Salzgitter and Wiesbaden.
- Prosecutors allege the ring smuggled Chinese women into Germany and confined them in short-stay apartments for prostitution.
- Preliminary evidence indicates victims were rotated weekly between cities to sidestep law enforcement and serviced up to 15 clients daily.
- Two arrest warrants were carried out, and authorities are now identifying more suspects and mapping the group’s criminal network.
- Investigators say the operation generated up to €10,000 per woman weekly, with most proceeds transferred to China and women retaining roughly half under the traffickers’ control.