Prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and police are conducting on Monday approximately 38 searches in five counties in a migrant trafficking case.
According to a DIICOT release, anti-crime prosecutors executed 38 home search warrants in the counties of Arges, Dambovita, Olt, Prahova and Braila, in a case regarding the establishment of an organized criminal group and migrant trafficking.
The prosecutors show that, between January and June 2023, several Romanian citizens set up an organized crime group that acted along a cross-border migrant trafficking route that included Romania (as a transit country), Hungary and Italy, and which was in direct contact with members of international crime groups, with the aim of smuggling migrants along the mentioned route in exchange for money.
The members of the said organized crime group carried out several transports of migrants by illegally crossing the state border on the route Romania – Hungary – Slovenia – Italy, yet police foiled a significant part of the migrant smuggling attempts, as follows: Romania – 610 migrants in 27 distinct episodes, Hungary – 8 migrants detected in April 2023, Slovenia – 20 migrants in March 2023 and 59 in June 2023, and Italy – 28 migrants detected in June 2023. All these actions were the result of police and judicial collaboration, but were also carried out through European investigation orders and with the support of Eurojust and Europol, the investigators also show.
According to the prosecutors, the criminal investigation that is currently underway revealed that the members of the organized crime group supposedly carried out migrant trafficking activities between January and August by using the same mode of operation; a specialization of the suspects is noticeable in the modification of motor vehicles so as to make the discovery of the concealed migrants difficult.
„However, the authorities managed to stop a significant number of such transports, the most recent one on August 29, at the crossing point of the Romanian border to Hungary,” the DIICOT states.
AGERPRES
