site.btaSeven Arrested in Three Countries as Balkan Migrant Smuggling Network Is Dismantled

Seven people have been arrested in Greece, Bulgaria and the Netherlands as part of a criminal network involved in smuggling migrants along the Balkan route to Italy, nieuws.nl said, citing Europol. The smuggling ring used rented, stolen and fraudulently registered vehicles.

The investigation was led by the Greek authorities, where most of the arrests were made. Five suspects were detained in Thessaloniki and Athens. The other two suspects were arrested in Etten-Leur, in the Dutch province of North Brabant, and in Sofia. An operation was also carried out in Bucharest, although no arrests were made in the Romanian capital, the report said.

Europol said the criminal network, composed mainly of Syrian and Egyptian nationals, was linked to 12 migrant smuggling incidents detected between February and July. A further four earlier incidents remain under investigation and are believed to be connected to the same network. The migrants transported were predominantly Egyptian, Iraqi and Syrian nationals.

The transport network used stolen vehicles, primarily originating from Greece, as well as rental vehicles that were never returned. The migrants were provided with forged identity documents. During the police raids, officers seized the forged documents along with mobile phones, SIM cards and fake licence plates.

The operation involved Bulgaria's General Directorate Border Police, Greece's Hellenic Police - Thessaloniki Aliens Directorate, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee and Romania's Directorate for Countering of Organised Crime.

The authorities in the countries involved worked closely with the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC) and Europol's European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC), De Telegraaf reported. A significant part of the evidence in the case was provided by the Bulgarian customs authorities, the newspaper added.