After two years of investigative work, on April 1st, Europol, with the help of the French Gendarmerie and the Italian Federal Police, arrested 24 individuals suspected of belonging to a criminal organization responsible for smuggling illegal immigrants into France and Italy. During the investigation, in addition to the 24 arrested, 40 people were identified as responsible for transporting the people attempting to cross the Schengen border.
Law enforcement conducted searches at properties linked to gang members involved in the smuggling case along the “Balkan route.” Europol coordinated efforts among local authorities in Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and Serbia, along with their counterparts in France and Italy.
Europol disclosed that the smuggling ring’s leaders, based in another EU country, orchestrated operations through contacts in the French Alsace region. These contacts recruited drivers in Strasbourg and Paris to transport migrants using rental vehicles. The migrants were initially smuggled to Serbia and then driven into the EU, where they were dropped off in nearby countries like Hungary, Slovenia, or Austria. Europol noted that the network’s segmented structure was likely intended to minimize risk to the broader operation if individual members were arrested.
