Employees at security companies in Berlin are believed to have persuaded refugees into prostitution in refugee homes, according to a media report broadcast on Tuesday.

In the report, aired by broadcaster ZDF’s investigative programme called “Frontal 21,” social workers, insiders at security companies and refugees attest to the prostitution, adding that minors are also involved.

One security officer who is responsible for several shelters said that a network of pimps exists in Berlin’s refugee homes and often security guards are the ones who establish initial contact with refugees.

Sex with male refugees is particularly in demand, according to the employee. “From upwards of 16 years of age, the younger the more expensive,” he said.

A security guard at one refugee centre admitted to ZDF that he earns €20 for every connection he sets up.

One 20-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan, whose application had been rejected, said in the programme that after a male security guard asked him whether he wanted to do business, he said: “for sex with a woman you get €30, maybe even €40”.

The Afghan told ZDF he had to earn money to survive. “I’m ashamed of what I do,” he said.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said the “very, very serious” accusations of procurement needed to be investigated.

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