Because of the suspicion of insurance fraud and money laundering, police officers in three cities in North Rhine-Westphalia and in Berlin started a search operation on Wednesday morning. At the same time, several apartments and three commercial properties in Duisburg, Essen, Düsseldorf and Berlin were being searched, a spokesman for the Duisburg police said to the German Press Agency.

According to the information, the preliminary investigation is directed against six suspects, some of whom would be attributed to a clan structure. The two women and four men are between the ages of 19 and 61. The amount of damage is said to be around 200,000 euros.