German federal police teams in an area of Saxony located near the Polish border have stopped several migrant smuggling operations in the last few days, according to three separate statements released Monday (July 17).

On Friday night (July 14) into the early hours of Saturday (July 15), a police team came across a red van near the eastern German town of Görlitz. The team said they noticed the van because its front light was malfunctioning, it appeared to be "creeping" along the motorway and was obviously heavily loaded.

The team flagged the vehicle, which was heading toward Dresden, to stop. The driver pulled over in the shadows near a building site, according to the police press release. By the time the police approached the van, both the driver and co-driver had run off.

Tight space

The authorities found 24 migrants -- 23 men and one woman -- standing in the back of the vehicle in a space too tight for anyone to sit. The passengers appeared to be in discomfort, finding it hard to continue standing upright, noted the police report.

Also read: Police arrest migrant smugglers in France and Germany

According to the police press release, all but one of the migrants aboard (from Lebanon) were Syrian. The officers began a search for the two suspected smugglers using sniffer dogs and a helicopter, but haven’t yet located them. After gathering evidence, the Polish vehicle used to transport the migrants was impounded.

On Saturday morning (July 15), Polish border guards and a German police officer came across another suspicious car, also a Mazda, but the driver ignored the invite to stop, accelerating to around 200 kilometers per hour.

Migrants from Ethiopia

A Polish police car managed to catch up with the vehicle to witness the driver fleeing the scene. Passengers of the abandoned car included four men from Ethiopia aged between 17 and 24.

Also read: Syrian migrants cross German border in suspected migrant smuggler's van

This time the police managed to catch the suspected smuggler, a 38-year-old Georgian national, nearby. They suspect he also smuggled two other Ethiopian men located by police close to the scene the same evening who told police they had been transported into Germany in the Mazda.

Police have placed the Georgian man in custody while they investigate. As well as preparing to charge him with smuggling, they are checking to see if he has broken any weapon laws after finding a forbidden flick knife in the glove box of the car.

Third van found on Sunday

Just a day later, on Sunday (July 16), a team from Ludwigsdorf found another suspicious van -- this time white, with a Belgian number plate. The vehicle was located around 8 p.m. in the city of Görlitz, located close to the Polish border. The police again flagged the van to stop, but the driver ignored the request, continuing into the next lane and turning left into a nearby street.

By the time the police found the van, the driver and co-driver had already fled the vehicle, which contained 12 Syrian migrants crammed in the back in conditions officers say were “questionable”.

The police are looking for the two men. They describe one as being of "Asian appearance" with a black beard and dressed in a light T-shirt, dark trousers and dark shoes. The second man was bigger and wore a red T-shirt.