German immigration office hit by human smuggling scandal – Bild

A government employee and her husband pocketed $85,000 for allegedly helping Indian men to enter the EU, according to the paper An employee of a German immigration office and her husband have been arrested for allegedly assisting a human smuggling ring which brought Indian men into the country through sham marriages in exchange for hefty payments, Bild has reported.The Cologne branch of the immigration office told the tabloid on Thursday that it has revoked the residence permits illegally issued by the criminal group, which involved two other people.According to Bild, the smuggling ring exploited the EU’s family reunification program to bring in the Indians.The foreign nationals arrived in Cyprus, where they entered fictitious marriages with Bulgarian women whom they had never met before, it said.A member of the Cologne immigration office, identified as Subha L., then processed and approved the applications for residence permits by the Indian males despite the irregularities in their paperwork, the report read. The employee and her husband earned at least €76,000 (around $85,000) from the scheme, Bild said.A lawyer for one of the suspected smugglers told the WDR broadcaster that th...