Berlin - Germany has stepped up its campaign against organized crime by spending 5 million euros (5.7 million dollars) to buy the so-called Panama Papers, which contain a list of those exploiting secret offshore tax havens.

Berlin officials confirmed on Tuesday that Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had bought the papers, which were published last year, as part of its bid to track down on possible German-based tax fraudsters.

The Panama Papers, published by several media groups around the world, named those who had used Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, a Central American tax haven.

The list of names included politicians, their families and close associates from around the world.

In September 2016, Denmark agreed to pay an anonymous source for information about hundreds of Danish nationals mentioned in the data leak.