Some 350 police officers, accompanied by a number of public prosecutors, carried out early morning raids on suspected human traffickers in the northern German states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Lower Saxony. Police said the raids, which targeted houses, apartments and sheds across the region, were conducted after months of investigations into suspected human-trafficking operations.

Authorities have said little about the raids in an effort to protect their ongoing investigation. Police did, however, confirm they had arrested five people with outstanding arrest warrants as well as five other suspects. The raids came when authorities acted upon suspicion of human-trafficking activities as well as theft and fraud perpetrated by professional criminal gangs.

js/msh (dpa)