Overview
- Federal police, customs, tax investigators and prosecutors searched 49 residential and commercial sites across North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony.
- Three arrest warrants were executed in Düsseldorf and Dortmund, detaining a 56-year-old alleged organizer and two nail-studio managers aged 36 and 44.
- Investigators say the Düsseldorf suspect operated multiple salons over about 16 years in cities including Düsseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, Stuttgart and the Darmstadt-Dieburg district.
- Authorities allege the network employed Vietnamese workers without residence permits and withheld wages while evading taxes and social contributions.
- Probes continue against 24 additional suspects as agencies pursue evidence and potential assets linked to the suspected organized-crime scheme.