The overnight operation carried out by police and customs officials Tuesday came as the culmination of an investigation that began during the summer of a German-Iraqi network that distributed illegal tobacco to hookah bars Europe-wide, German officials said.
Authorities allege that three suspects between the ages of 27 and 35 operated three legal shops and also the illegal smuggling operation. Some 200,000 euros ($237,000) in import duties should have been paid on the tobacco seized, authorities said.
The 35-year-old accused of being the ringleader is an alleged member of a known Berlin crime family. Neither the names of the suspects nor the family were released.
Authorities did not say where in the Middle East the tobacco came from.
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