Europol is on the trail of the Syrian smuggling network in Germany
“Lukashenko says that he will have an answer ready if there are new sanctions”
WELT reporter Christoph Wanner reports from the Polish-Belarusian border. He says, “the people on the Belarusian side are waiting in makeshift tent camps under inhumane conditions”. Lukashenko has now ordered help primarily for the women and children.
The group helps migrants to fly to Belarus from the Middle East and to drive from Poland to Central Europe – now they are targeted by European investigators. A confidential message reveals how the smugglers work.
E.Investigators are on the trail of a larger gang of smugglers. According to a message from the EU police authority Europol to the police authorities of the Schengen states, “a criminal network of predominantly Syrian citizens living in Germany or the Netherlands, in the states of Germany, the Netherlands and Poland” has been operating for several weeks. The network organizes “the transport of irregular migrants from the Middle East via Belarus and Poland to Western Europe”.
The network uses buses or rental cars for “smuggling from Poland to Germany or the Netherlands”. Among other things, the network hires Eastern Europeans to pick up the migrants in Poland or Lithuania and drive them to Germany. The drivers often received 100 euros per person picked up, according to the confidential message.
As early as September, WELT AM SONNTAG reported on several arrests of Iraqis and Afghans living in Germany who smuggled compatriots into Germany via Belarus. Last week, WELT reported that, according to information from the EU Commission, the majority of the arrested escape helpers are helping migrants from Belarus to get to the EU via Poland.
“Most of the reported cases concern the arrest of drivers who enable irregular migrants (mostly from Syria, but also from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Yemen) to get to Germany in rented cars through Poland. In most cases, the drivers were third-country nationals (Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians and Turks) who live in Germany, ”it says.
According to “Bild am Sonntag”, the federal police provisionally arrested 329 smugglers who are said to have brought migrants from the Polish-Belarusian border area to Germany. A large part is in custody. The alleged perpetrators include 14 with a German passport, the rest are often Syrians, Iraqis, Ukrainians, Georgians and Balts.
According to the investigators’ findings, the smugglers apply via closed forums on the Internet and rent a van. They will then receive cell phone messages telling them which areas they should take in the migrants.
Polish security authorities check cars near the Belarusian border
Source: AP / Matthias Schrader
Poland tries to prevent illegal entries from Belarus with massive border protection. According to the Polish border police, around 35,000 illegal attempts to cross the border have been detected since August, and almost all those who were arrested have been turned away. But by no means all entries are recorded in the extensive area: In Germany came via Belarus since July more than 9500 asylum seekers.
The Polish authorities are now warning migrants on the border with Belarus via SMS not to believe rumors about an allegedly imminent transit to Germany. The message circulated among migrants that buses from Germany would pick up the refugees on November 15 and that Poland had given their consent to transit, it said in the short message.
And further: “That is a lie and nonsense! Poland will continue to protect its border with Belarus. ”The message in English would be received by everyone whose cell phones were within range of Polish cell phones in the border area, said Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski. The short message contains a link to the website of his ministry, where this message can be found in five languages.
The background to the rumor are probably attempts by German immigration activists to pick up migrants from the border region. Last Tuesday, German non-governmental organizations in Poland failed in their attempt to bring migrants from the border operation to the Federal Republic. The bus from the Seebrücke Deutschland and LeaveNoOneBehind initiatives was stopped by the Polish police a few kilometers before the Kuznica border crossing.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior warned that the aid to unauthorized entry could have criminal consequences. Numerous governments are currently endeavoring to provide better care for migrants staying on the border with Poland. The refugee relief organization UNHCR has now got access to the ends of the tent from Belarus. Aid organizations are also active in Poland, but the country does not allow foreign NGOs into the border area.
Endure pictures of people in need
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) spoke out particularly clearly against the demand made in numerous media for the distribution of migrants within the EU. “We are not allowed to accept these migrants in the EU or in Germany. If you wanted that, they wouldn’t have to take the detour via Minsk, but could fly straight to Germany, ”said Kretschmer“ Bild am Sonntag ”. “We have to show the dictator in Minsk that he will not be successful with this measure. Then he will stop smuggling. “
Society has to endure the pictures of people in need at the border and help Poland to secure its external EU border, Kretschmer added. “Warsaw is doing the right thing, so we cannot stab Poles in the back.”