Major raid at Frankfurt over illegal handlers shakes German cargo industry

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German freight firms including Lufthansa, DHL and Fraport are said to be among the victims of a gang suspected of illegally employing workers, costing German taxpayers some €17m. On Wednesday, 1,200 members of a special squad raided offices at Frankfurt and several other airports, resulting in the arrest of six men. The syndicate of Germans and Turks are accused of illegally supplying cargo and baggage workers.

According to CargoForwarder, unconfirmed reports suggest investigators visited two cargo handling companies in Frankfurt’s Cargo City South – Turkish Celebi and Cargoworker, a Russian-German ground handler. Celebi has since spoken to CargoForwarder about the raid, explaining it has been a victim. One press report said that Lufthansa Cargo confirmed that one of the 150 premises searched was a subsidiary, which had ended cooperation with a suspect firm in 2013.