Police arrest 8 Syrians, Romanians over smuggling immigrants to Europe
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Romanian Border Police arrested on Tuesday a smuggling network of Romanian and Syrian nationals charged with smuggling immigrants from Turkey to Western Europe.
The Romanian Border Police and Bulgarian General Directorate Combating Organized Crime, supported by Europol, launched an operation that resulted in the arrest of an eight-member smuggling network.
The smugglers were smuggling immigrants from Bulgaria to Romania and then to Western Europe.
According to investigations, the network, consisting mainly of Syrian and Romanian nationals, was operating from Bucharest.
They network’s members recruited immigrants from the Middle East, mainly Syria, who wanted to reach Western European countries, especially Germany.
The leader of the network is a Syrian national who had lived in Romania for three years and had strong ties with other key organizers based in Istanbul, Turkey.
Europol reported that between February and May alone, the Romanian authorities detected five smuggling incidents with a total of 70 irregular immigrants.
“The individuals were transported in lorries concealed between merchandises,” the Europol said. “Each migrant paid between EUR 5 000 and EUR 10 000 for the full smuggling services until the final destination.”