British police have arrested 18 alleged members of an international people-smuggling gang suspected of smuggling hundreds of people from Turkey to Britain.
The arrests in southern London and Surrey were part of a yearlong investigation coordinated with authorities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, where more suspects were being arrested, police said.
"Working with our European colleagues in this way has enabled us to take out an entire human trafficking network from route to source," said Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police.
All 18 are suspected of conspiring to facilitate trafficking of illegal immigrants and money laundering. The alleged ringleader, who was among those arrested, is believed to own 10 fast-food restaurants employing illegal Turkish immigrants in the London area, police said.
More than 50 police and immigration officers searched several homes and businesses, including fast-food outlets. At one home, they found about $20,300 in cash, police said.
In Germany, five other people were held after raids in Hamburg and Cologne.
German police said they arrested a 32-year-old Turk suspected of smuggling up to 100 illegal Turkish immigrants through Hamburg in the last three years. Each immigrant would pay about $7,700 for transport, they said.
The gang allegedly brought the immigrants to Britain by air, road and sea through France, Germany or Belgium. Once in Britain, the immigrants were coaxed into working for low pay in London, police said.
"They might be told they are coming here to be a student, but end up in bonded employment working in a kitchen," said detective Chief Superintendent Steve Kupis, in charge of the arrests.
The immigrants, including women and children, were paid minimum wages so they could not pay the gang back for the cost of being smuggled to Britain, Kupis said.
AP