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Because there had been some violent incidents during previous operations, the police provided support on site

Photo: Christoph Reichwein / dpa

In a major check on suspicion of social benefit fraud, the Duisburg police arrested two people on Tuesday morning. Both were probably illegal in Germany, said a police spokesman.

Numerous authorities such as the Social Welfare Office, the Foreigners' Registration Office and the Federal Employment Agency had inspected the residents of the complex. According to the city, there were "many accumulating indications from various authorities" of social benefit fraud in the building complex with 140 apartments, which is mainly inhabited by Southeast Europeans. The action began at 6 a.m. and is still ongoing.

"In addition to municipal actors such as the Office of Accounting and Taxes, the Office of Social Affairs and Housing or the Foreigners' Registration Office, non-municipal service providers such as the Family Benefits Office of the Federal Employment Agency also participate in the registration control," the city announced.

Emergency vehicles involved in accident

Police officers had secured the action of the city, among other things, with a hundred and several police officers, because there had been violent incidents in previous operations. The control of the buildings, in which around 430 residents are reported, was unexpectedly peaceful, said the police spokesman.

On the way to the control, however, five emergency vehicles of the hundred had crashed into each other. The hundred had driven early Tuesday morning in a column to the scene, said a spokeswoman. The vehicle in front had to brake because of other road users. The drivers of the other vehicles would have realized this too late. The five police cars hit each other one after the other on a rain-soaked road.

Four vehicles were no longer roadworthy and had to be towed. No one was injured. Traffic at the heavily frequented Bridge of Solidarity over the Rhine was severely affected for about an hour and a half. Previously, the »WAZ« had reported on the accident.

Undeclared work and undeclared subletting

Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia regularly suffer major financial damage due to social benefit fraud. Only on Monday, the »Waz« reported on a similar control in nearby Gelsenkirchen. Eleven apartments are said to have been checked there. According to the newspaper, in addition to illegal work and undeclared subletting, a total of half a dozen "illegal apartments" were discovered, including a secretly converted attic and a shop used as living space.

Last year, the Bochum public prosecutor's office investigated a case in which the suspects are said to have brought families from Romania to Germany and applied for social assistance such as child benefit or Hartz IV for them. As reported by WDR, the families are said to have been returned after receiving the first payments, but the benefits continued to be received. The suspects were people from organized crime.

A total of 44 properties were searched in Germany and Romania, including Essen, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Gladbeck.

swe/tgk/dpa