In a large-scale international operation, investigators from Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain uncovered a criminal network that is said to have smuggled up to 10,000 migrants across the English Channel.

The authorities announced on Wednesday in The Hague that it was probably the largest international operation of its kind.

Tuesday's action targeted one of the main criminal groups that smuggles migrants across the English Channel to Britain in small boats.

39 suspects were arrested, 18 of them in Germany.

In Germany, the Osnabrück public prosecutor's office executed the European arrest warrants on behalf of the Belgian and French authorities and implemented the 30 search warrants in four federal states.

The arrested suspects are to be extradited and prosecuted in Belgium or France.

The men between the ages of 22 and 54 are already in custody or would be presented to the magistrate in a timely manner, as the Osnabrück public prosecutor announced on Wednesday.

In Germany, 36 objects were searched.

The investigators secured numerous pieces of evidence, including 119 inflatable boats, 33 boat engines, 966 life jackets, 64 mobile phones and tablets and around 27,000 euros in cash.

Around 900 officers from the federal police and the Osnabrück police headquarters were involved in the campaign in the federal states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

According to the public prosecutor's office, those arrested in Germany had the task of procuring inflatable boats and other material, storing them and transporting them to the French and Belgian North Sea coast with the participation of other smugglers.

In the course of the investigation, among other things, twelve transports from two storage sites in Hanover and Bielefeld to Belgium and France were identified.

Further investigations led to deposits in Osnabrück, Lotte, Hanover and Bielefeld.

The alleged smuggler group is also said to be related to an attempted homicide on November 13, 2021 in Osnabrück, it was said.

An Iraqi national was seriously injured with multiple shots in the lower body.