In this context, the colleagues inspected 25 facilities in the Kaiserslautern and Zweibrücken area, 19 facilities in the Landau area, and 11 facilities in the Saarbrücken area. The deployed officers interviewed a total of 171 people about their employment conditions (109 in Kaiserslautern / Zweibrücken, 33 in Landau, and 29 in Saarbrücken). "We especially check whether employers have properly registered their employees for social security, whether employees are wrongfully receiving or have received social benefits, whether foreign employees possess the necessary work permits or residence titles required for employment, whether minimum wages are being observed, or even whether exploitative working conditions exist," said Nicole Hübner, spokesperson for the Saarbrücken Main Customs Office.
The financial control unit for illegal employment was supported by colleagues from the traffic routes control unit of the Saarbrücken Customs Office, the municipal enforcement service of the city of Kaiserslautern, as well as by cash auditors from the audit department of the Saarbrücken tax office.
On site, there were suspicion cases in 73 instances that require further examination afterwards: - Minimum wage: 12 (1 Kaiserslautern / Zweibrücken, 5 Landau, 6 Saarbrücken) - Withholding and embezzlement of wages: 23 (6 Landau, 17 Saarbrücken) - Suspicion of benefit fraud: 24 (8 Kaiserslautern / Zweibrücken, 5 Landau, 11 Saarbrücken) - Illegal employment of foreigners: 9 (4 Landau, 5 Saarbrücken) - Unlawful receipt of social benefits: 24 (8 Kaiserslautern, 5 Landau, 11 Saarbrücken) - Violations of social security reporting obligations: 5 (5 Kaiserslautern)
On site, four criminal proceedings have already been initiated on suspicion of violations of immigration law provisions, as well as five administrative fine proceedings on suspicion of reporting violations.
In addition, violations of the Tobacco Tax Act were also identified by the traffic control unit.
In addition to identifying violations, this operation was primarily aimed at gaining insights into potential clan activities across different offenses and authorities.
