The investigation, said authorities in North Macedonia, had been going on for two years before ten suspects were arrested for alleged people smuggling activities.

Police said in a statement on Monday (June 5), reported the news agency Associated Press (AP) that the suspects were part of a "sophisticated criminal organization" operating routes between Greece and Hungary, as well as from Bulgaria to Serbia and on into the EU.

Each migrant who used the gang is thought to have been charged between €2,000-€4,000 to make their journey.

In addition to the ten arrested, investigators have identified seven other alleged members of the criminal organization. Three of whom are already in prison on separate offenses, and four have been put on a wanted list for arrest, reported AP.

Raids across three towns

The suspects were picked up in a series of coordinated raids at 11 locations across three different towns in North Macedonia. They have already been charged with people smuggling offenses, reported AP, which carry a minimum prison sentence of five years if found guilty.

Authorities say that partly because of low water levels in the Evros River on the border between Turkey and Greece, smuggling activities have increased in recent weeks. Last week, more than a hundred migrants were reported to be present on islets in the Evros River. On Sunday, Greek authorities announced they had rescued 91 of those migrants from one islet in the middle of the river which forms much of the border between Turkey and Greece.

Most of those rescued, reported AP, are thought to have been from Syria and have been taken to migrant processing centers in Greece.

Frontex deal

At the end of April, the EU’s border force Frontex began deploying border guards on North Macedonia’s southern border with Greece. At least 100 guards patrol that border and will stay in place, reported the news agency Reuters, until at least January 2024.

North Macedonia’s joint operations with Frontex follow in the footsteps of similar agreements between Albania, Serbia, and Montenegro and the EU border force.

At the time the deal was signed, North Macedonia’s Interior Minister, Oliver Spasovski, declared that he felt his country was "no longer alone in the fight against illegal migrations."

Just a day before that agreement was announced, a migrant woman was accidentally shot and killed at the border between Greece and North Macedonia. The shooting occurred, reported AP, as police inspected two vans they believed to be involved in migrant smuggling.

In March this year, another incident was reported at the border after a car overturned during a police chase. The car, said police, was carrying 11 migrants, five from Pakistan, three from India, and three from Afghanistan. At least three migrants and a suspected smuggler were injured in the accident. The suspected smuggler in this case, reported AP, was identified as a 27-year-old Macedonian national, who was later arrested after being checked into hospital.

With AP and Reuters