The operation began on Saturday evening in the cities of Bochum, Duisburg, Essen, Recklinghausen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, according to the Rheinische Post newspaper.
As many as 1,300 police officers are involved in it, with customs officers also taking part, the publication said.
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The police conduct searches, in particular, in shisha bars owned by these criminal clans, considering these places to be "hotbeds of dirty deeds." In the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the influence of such clans is particularly strong, the newspaper noted.