German police say they have broken up a multimillion-pound international forgery ring that specialised in Russian avant-garde artists.

Federal police said in a statement that 100 officers raided businesses, homes and art galleries across the country including in Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Cologne on Wednesday and Thursday. Searches were also carried out in Israel and Switzerland.

Two suspects, aged 67 and 41, were taken into custody as alleged leaders of the group of six forgers.

Police said that since 2005 the ring has produced and sold more than 400 faked paintings as "previously unknown works" attributed to artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich for "four- to seven-figure euro sums" each.