DUESSELDORF, GERMANY: German police raided three homes on Thursday in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia where several people are suspected of trying to acquire forged French passports, a spokesman for the public prosecutors' office in Berlin said.

No arrests have been made yet, said the spokesman, who declined to comment on whether there was a connection with the Islamist attacks on Paris last month in which 130 people were killed.

Special forces had been deployed for the raids in Germany because it was thought that the suspects could be armed, though there have not been any violence so far, the spokesman added.

A spokesman for the federal police said the raids, which involved around 80 police officers, started at around 0600 local time (0500 GMT) and searches were still under way.