Federal police find refugees in vans near Zittau – 20 children among them
During a check on the B178, police officers found a minibus with 49 foreigners who had entered the country illegally – including small children. Two smugglers are arrested.
The federal police found 49 migrants in Oberseifersdorf near Zittau. Including several small children. © xcitepress/thomas baier
Oberseifersdorf. On Tuesday evening, federal police found 49 refugees in a minibus on the B178 near Zittau and initially took them into custody. Two suspected smugglers were also arrested during the check.
According to federal police spokesman Alfred Klaner, officers checked a white Citroën Jumper on the B178 in Oberseifersdorf, which was heading inland from Poland.
Advertisement
OKA is changing – become a part of this change!
OKA Büro Möbel invests in the group of companies. We are looking for solution-oriented specialists (m/f/d) as soon as possible.
“The colleagues found 49 migrants from Syria and Turkey in a loading area of around 7.2 square meters. Among them were 20 children, some of them toddlers,” Klaner continued. “At over 30 degrees, the air we could breathe was very bad in the very limited space.” Some of them were medically checked on site by the emergency services.
According to the spokesman, it is assumed that the refugees were smuggled into Germany via the so-called Balkan route and therefore spent around ten hours in the minibus.
Suspected smugglers have two illegal weapons with them
“The migrants first came to the office in a police bus and their personal details were recorded,” says Alfred Klaner. They are initially accused of unauthorized entry and illegal stay in Germany. However, if they apply for asylum, they will probably be taken to an initial reception center for refugees later that day.
The driver and passenger of the minibus were also arrested on site. The two Czechs, aged 32 and 27, are accused of smuggling in foreigners. In addition, a murderer and a butterfly knife – both prohibited weapons – were found on the passenger. This is also why an investigation is now being carried out against the man, said the spokesman for the Ebersbach Federal Police Inspectorate.
One of the two suspected smugglers arrested had two illegal weapons with him. © xcitepress/thomas baier
According to Alfred Klaner, smuggling is currently the order of the day in the region. “However, the federal police have not yet detected such a large-scale smuggling in the Löbau-Zittau region,” sums up the spokesman.
An arrest warrant has been issued against the smuggler who was caught in Oberseifersdorf on September 11th. The 41-year-old Ukrainian was admitted to the Görlitz prison.