The public prosecutor's office in the eastern German city of Dresden is investigating two Turkish nationals suspected of transporting 28 migrants into Germany in a closed refrigerated truck around 9 pm on Friday (March 29).

According to a Tuesday press release by the responsible federal police inspectorate, officials stopped a 40-ton Mercedes Benz tractor unit with a refrigerated trailer coming from the Czech Republic.

The group of smuggled migrants hailed from Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey, and included unaccompanied minors.

The two suspects allegedly responsible for the life-threatening transport, a 26-year-old and a 52-year-old Turk, were taken into custody and are now awaiting trial.

The police officers who inspected the trailer noticed a strong smell of feces when they opened it, the press release states. Many of the migrants, who were reportedly dehydrated, had to relieve themselves in plastic bottles during the journey.

According to the press release, the van had no windows for light and was only electrically ventilated, with the ventilation reportedly failing several times during the journey.

23 of the 28 migrants applied for asylum in Germany. The remaining five were returned to the Czech Republic by police. The minors were handed over to the youth welfare office, the press release stated.

Series of failed smuggling attempts

This weekend's discovery highlights the dangers migrants might face in the attempt to reach European countries -- often with the help of smugglers, who are frequently arrested both inside and outside the EU for trying to bring migrants into western Europe.

Over the past months and years, a number of detected smuggling attempts at the German-Polish and German-Czech borders made headlines:

• In February, two Czech nationals were found guilty of smuggling 49 migrants under life-threatening and degrading conditions from Hungary to Germany.
• Last November, over 200 police officers operated in a smuggling crackdown in eastern Germany. The smugglers were suspected of transporting migrants through the Balkans to Germany in the back of vans and cars in what police described as inhumane conditions.
• In October 2023, German police charged the driver of a van which crashed in Germany, killing seven migrants. Prosecutors filed charges against the suspect for migrant smuggling and causing death through dangerous driving.
• Last September, German police arrested a 15-year-old Syrian who was behind the steering wheel of a van with 27 smuggled people on board.
• In the whole month of September, German police intercepted 320 migrants trying to cross the border from Poland.
• In July 2023, German police stopped at least three vehicles over the course of a few days after the drivers were found attempting to smuggle migrants across the Polish border to Germany.
• In November 2021, German police stopped 23 migrants near the Polish-German border and detained two suspected people smugglers.

with AFP