European
police have arrested 103 people in 10 countries in a major migrant smuggling
sting. Police called it the biggest raid on a migrant smuggling network in the
history of the European Union.
"The
arrested persons are suspected of being involved in the clandestine smuggling
of a large number of irregular migrants into and within the European
Union," Europe-wide police agency Europol said Wednesday from its
headquarters in The Hague.
The
smuggling network specialized in bringing in migrants from the Middle East,
especially Libya, Iraq and Syria, mainly through Turkey and the western
Balkans, Europol added.
"They
were often smuggled in inhuman and dangerous conditions, such as in very small
hidden compartments in the floors of buses and trucks, in freight trains or in
boats," the agency said.
According
to police, migrants sometimes died en route, including one incident when 16
drowned in the river Tisza near the Hungarian-Serbian border in 2009.
Organization
'significantly disrupted'
More than
1,200 police searched 117 houses simultaneously, with officials confiscating a
large number of mobile phones, laptops, and bank statements, as well as a
semi-automatic rifle with a large amount of ammunition and over 176,500 euros
($240,000) in cash.
Police in
Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia,
Turkey and Kosovo made the early-morning arrests.
"We
significantly disrupted this main organization," said Nicholas Dove, the
head of the organized crime unit of the European Union's Rule of Law Mission in
Kosovo.
"This
is not a cash on delivery business, this is a cash up front business,"
said Dove. "Some people who were let down ended up in places where they
didn't intend to be."
"Then
there's the knock-on effect of people being illegally in countries in Western
Europe with no status here. How do they exist? They get involved in street
crime. This is hugely damaging to human beings but also to society and the
economy," added Dove.
Officials
said about 20 members of the organization remained unknown, but pledged to
track them down as well.
dr/kms (Reuters, AFP)
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