Last week, during searches conducted on suspicion of human trafficking, two men were detained in Cologne, Düsseldorf, and the Siegen area. The Giessen Local Court subsequently issued arrest warrants against the two suspects, according to the Giessen Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Mainz Police Department.
Background: Police and prosecutors say that over several years transgender women from Brazil were smuggled into Germany with the aim of forcing them into prostitution and financially exploiting them.
The Mainz Criminal Investigation Directorate, under the leadership of the Giessen Public Prosecutor’s Office, has since September 2025 been conducting an undercover operation against a nationwide group of Brazilian origin. There is suspicion that members of this group engaged in human trafficking, the commercial smuggling of foreigners, and money laundering, authorities said.
In January, Europol established a task force that also includes Brazil. Along with searches and arrests in North Rhine-Westphalia, 13 suspected shell companies were searched in Brazil. The investigations are ongoing.
Marcy Ellerton
