A network of migrant smugglers operating in central Europe has been disbanded, and 205 people have been arrested for alleged involvement in the smuggling of tens of thousands of Syrian migrants, two of whom have died, the Austrian government said on Thursday.
“A great success against organized crime and a serious blow to the drug mafia,” Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement. Said.
The investigation, which began in 2021, made it possible to track down those who were part of this network that transported more than 36,000 children and adults from Hungary to Western Europe, particularly Germany and France.
Once in Austria, the immigrants were handed over to other groups to continue.
Police spokesman Johann Baumschlager told AFP that he paid between 3,000 and 4,500 euros per person (between 3,200 and 4,700 dollars at current exchange rates) for the trip “mostly from Syria” and between Hungary and Austria.
Officials estimate that the network, one of the largest to be dismantled in Austria in recent years, has generated up to 152m euros within months.
Arrests were made not only in the Alpine country, but also in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. Investigators also confiscated 80 vehicles.
During a network-related incident, two irregular migrants drowned in a covered pickup truck that was cut off at the Hungarian border in October 2021. There were 27 other people in that vehicle.
The ministry said the driver escaped but was arrested in Latvia.
In January, a soldier allegedly another drug dealer in the group shot a soldier while trying to escape a checkpoint. He was arrested in Hungary.
Austria, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, as well as since 2015 – and Denmark since 2016 – have re-introduced random identity checks at their borders, citing the immigration crisis and/or terrorist threat.
source: Noticias
