The Federal Police and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Germany on Thursday said human trafficking detected in Germany fell sharply in 2025 along with irregular migration.

They said that a total of 4,622 smuggling operations were registered, a 41.9 per cent fewer than in the previous year.

They said it includes 147 particularly serious cases and those in which people died, which fell by 57.6 per cent.

These are criminal activities in which people are brought into the country without a valid visa or residence permit.

The BKA counts each person who has been smuggled in as a separate case, meaning that a total of 4,622 people were detected.

Of these, 4,190 were recorded by the Federal Police at the external borders, while the remainder was recorded by other authorities.

The most common nationalities among the migrants are Afghans, Syrians, Turks, Somalis and Ukrainians.

Germany’s eastern borders with Poland and Austria remained hotspots, though with a strong downward trend as some smuggling operations shifted to the western borders.

The suspected perpetrators identified were predominantly young men.

“A total of 3,088 suspects were registered, a decrease of just over 23 per cent. The most represented nationalities are Syrians, Germans, Turks, Ukrainians and Afghans,” the authorities said.

(dpa/NAN)