German news magazine Focus said that the joint Franco-German investigation team would include two Berlin state prosecutors, five officers of Germany’s criminal police, three investigators from Germany’s federal police and an equal number of French experts.
The team is to combat Vietnamese human traffickers who have made Berlin a European hub for their business deals, the magazine reported, quoting unnamed security sources.
Berlin state prosecution authorities estimate that more than 1,000 Vietnamese nationals are smuggled each over year to Berlin via China, Russia, Belarus, Poland and the Czech Republic. From Berlin, they are then smuggled via Calais and through the Eurotunnel to Britain.
The report said that many of the Vietnamese were made to work on roofed plantations in Britain growing illegal marijuana to pay off their travel costs.