Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed that five men were arrested on Monday on suspicion of working with a criminal organization smuggling goods to Russia.
The prosecutor's office said the arrests were made by German customs officers in Lübeck, Germany. The suspects allegedly arranged an estimated 16,000 deliveries to Russia in a transaction valued at 30 million euros.
"The arrested suspects are strongly suspected of having committed commercial and organized violations of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act as members of a criminal organization," the office said in a press release.
The suspects include one German-Russian national and a German-Ukrainian national. Their full names were not released.
The prosecutor's office alleges that the suspects used a trading company, owned by an arrested suspect referred to as "Nikita S.," to "clandestinely procure goods for Russian industry" and concealed transactions through a shell company. This was done at least since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
