Status: 11/27/2021 4:20 p.m.
The Austrian police managed to strike a gang of smugglers. The officers arrested 15 people believed to have brought 700 people into the country. Many of the refugees have already traveled on to Germany.
In Austria, the police uncovered a network of people smugglers that is said to have illegally brought more than 700 people into the country. Most of them had made their way to Germany, as a police spokesman reported in St. Pölten in Lower Austria.
Within a few days, 15 suspected smugglers were arrested who had transported people from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. According to the investigators, the smuggling operation was broken up after a transport of 200 to 300 people with a total of 25 vehicles set off from the Serbian-Hungarian border on November 16. “Your cars were prepared for these trips,” said a police spokesman for the ORF broadcaster.
Migrants paid up to 5000 euros
The route led through Slovakia and the Czech Republic to Lower Austria, where 14 vehicles were seized. The drivers were recruited in Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan with monthly wages of up to 3,000 euros.
Of the hundreds of migrants, around a third applied for asylum in Austria, said the police spokesman. The people picked up indicated that they had planned to get to Germany themselves. The other two thirds have probably already traveled there. Each migrant was asked to travel to Austria between 4,000 and 5,000 euros.
337 suspected smugglers have already been arrested
“Smuggling is not only one of the largest branches of organized crime, but above all a deeply inhuman one,” said Interior Minister Karl Nehammer to the ORF. Refugees are often made false promises, according to the ÖVP politician.
This year 337 people were arrested in Austria under suspicion of being a smuggler. Last year there were a total of 311 people arrested.