GERMAN federal police said they carried out the biggest raids in their history yesterday against an alleged organized crime ring suspected of trafficking hundreds of women and transsexuals from Thailand for prostitution.

The federal police force said in a statement that a record 1,500 officers swooped on more than 60 brothels and flats in 12 of Germany’s 16 states.

Prosecutors have 56 suspects in their sights, 41 of them women.

Authorities say a “core group” of 17 suspects “smuggled Thai women and transsexuals into Germany with fraudulent” visas for the passport-free Schengen zone.

Those brought to Germany “had to hand over 100 percent of their wages to the operators of the respective ‘massage parlors’ to pay off their smuggling fee,” an extortionate sum of between 16,000 and 36,000 euros (US$20,000-45,000).

Seven of the accused, including a 59-year-old Thai woman and her 62-year-old German partner, were taken into custody on outstanding arrest warrants.

Beyond human trafficking, forced prostitution, procurement and embezzlement of wages, the ringleaders also face charges of tax evasion, a spokesman for the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office, Alexander Badle, told reporters.

Some of the suspects could face up to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors in Frankfurt, who have been working with police on the case since February 2017, estimate that the ring drew more than one million euros in income.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer praised the operation as an “unprecedented strike against a national organized crime network.”

Prostitution is legal in Germany but heavily regulated and taxed. (SD-Agencies)