German authorities have apprehended several individuals accused of smuggling migrants into the country. In two separate operations coordinated with European counterparts, they made at least seven arrests in total. The two criminal gangs are believed to have facilitated the passage of almost 600 people to Germany.
Investigators in Germany say they have dismantled a smuggling gang that had been operating across multiple borders.
The group is reported to have smuggled more than 470 people into Germany, according to a statement by federal police in the Bavarian city of Passau.
Prosecutors added that some of the cases involved life-threatening circumstances, such as up to 36 people being transported on the back of a truck over a period of several hours.
The criminal gang was based in the Hungarian capital Budapest, according to reports, and had charged more than 10,000 euros in most instances to bring people into Germany.
Raids in several European countries
Federal police investigators said they had spent several months investigating the suspected leader of the gang, who was already apprehended in Budapest back in January via an international arrest warrant.
The suspect, however, was only extradited to Germany in June, and could face several years in prison, although his trial is still pending. Previously, four other suspected members of the criminal group were arrested in Bavaria in 2023.
Meanwhile, further suspected gang members, some of whom were reported as "high-ranking" by the AFP news agency, were identified to have been operating from other European countries as part of the operation, which also involved law enforcement authorities in Hungary and Austria, as well international cooperation with the European police agency Europol.
Some of the suspects have already been extradited, according to reports, and in some cases, extradition proceedings are still ongoing.
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Further operation against alleged smugglers
In a separate development, authorities raided the properties of several suspected people smugglers in Germany's southern state of Bavaria. Federal police searched three apartments in the towns of Regensburg, Langquaid and Pförring on June 24, where they confiscated extensive evidence, including cell phones and digital storage devices, according to a statement by the public prosecutor's office in Dresden.
Hundreds of officers were reportedly involved in the operation, which was carried out on behalf of the Dresden public prosecutor's office.
The investigations were specifically directed against five Syrian nationals aged between 25 and 33, who stand accused of having smuggled a total of 108 people from Slovakia to Germany by way of the Czech Republic over a period of several months in 2023.
A 27-year-old suspect meanwhile was arrested the same day in Neustadt an der Donau on an existing arrest warrant after a 31-year-old was already arrested three weeks ago.
These two suspects in custody have been charged with four counts of trafficking of foreign nationals. No further arrest warrants have yet been issued against the three remaining suspects.
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with AFP