The European police announced this Friday the arrest of eight “masterminds” of a large human trafficking network, which was dismantled and is considered responsible for transporting up to 10,000 migrants, mainly Afghans, Pakistanis and Syrians, to Europe.
A special force, led by Germany, and with the participation of Austria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and the Netherlands, also arrested 126 accomplices, mostly in Austria, the European police agency Europol said.
Europol, which coordinated the operation that was launched last August, described those detained as “highly dangerous”, “mostly Syrians”, and with “contacts in the origin, transit and destination country” of the traffic
The investigation revealed that “the detainees facilitated the trafficking of at least 10,000 migrants to the EU, mostly Afghans, Pakistanis and Syrians,” adds the statement from the agency, based in The Hague.
The operation launched last year detected 916 human “trafficking incidents”, allowed the search of 151 homes as well as the seizure of about one million euros (USD 1.08 million), adds Europol.
The smugglers used cargo holds, vans and private vehicles to transport the migrants from Turkey to the Balkan region, Romania and Hungary, and then on to Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.
The suspects were paid between 4,000 euros ($4,300) and 10,000 euros to transport each migrant “in extremely precarious conditions”and with “risk to life” of migrants, according to Europol
