Overview

• Authorities are investigating more than 70 suspects in a long‑running undeclared‑labor case tied to subcontracted supermarket shelf‑filling for a major food retailer.
• Searches on October 7 and 9 in Munich, Gaimersheim and Unterammergau seized extensive records and froze about €3 million in bank funds and property, with roughly 50 investigators involved.
• Eight arrest warrants have been issued, several suspects are in pre‑trial detention, others remain fugitives, and one case is already before the Munich I regional court.
• Investigators allege subcontractors and short‑lived sub‑subcontractors failed to register workers for taxes and social insurance, often underpaid them, and in some instances employed Afghans without residence permits.
• A retail‑company employee who allocated contracts is under investigation on suspicion of aiding the scheme, while prosecutors say there is currently no suspicion against the company’s management.