( dpa ) - Paris police detained 105 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa on Tuesday in a raid on a workers' dormitory, and arrested nine other people for housing illegal migrants, the French state's attorney's office reported.
Some 400 police took part in the raid on what officials said was an organized group specializing in the housing of illegally documented workers.
Of the migrants detained 103 were found to be in France illegally. The nine arrested were accused of housing people in inhumane conditions and producing falsified documents.
According to French officials, the leaders of the group charged high rents for substandard accommodations, with 500 residents living in quarters meant to house half their number. Most of the undocumented workers came from Mali.
Citizen's rights organization MRAP claimed that 140 illegals were detained in the raid.
Leftwing groups criticized the raid, which took place in Paris' 13th arrondissement (district), saying that no door in the affected property was left undamaged.
"The government is using the immigration issue to distract from the failure its policies," the MRAP said.