German police have arrested 10 people in an operation to combat people smuggling across eight states. The suspects are believed to have illegally procured clients residency permits in exchange for large sums of money.

Ten people, including two lawyers, were arrested in Germany on Wednesday amid a large-scale police operation targeting a people-smuggling ring suspected of fraudulently obtaining residency for some 350 mostly Chinese nationals, police said.

More than 1,000 officers from the German federal police and other law enforcement agencies searched a total of 101 residential and business premises during the operation, which spanned eight of Germany’s 16 states.

The operation was overseen by the federal criminal police department in the western city of Cologne.