Police in Austria uncover international trafficking ring
Nfter investigations into an international trafficking ring in Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania, a total of 205 suspects have been arrested since 2021. They are said to have smuggled tens of thousands of people, mostly Syrians, illegally across borders. 80 tractor vehicles were confiscated, the gang is said to have made a turnover of around 152 million euros per year. This was announced by the Austrian Ministry of the Interior on Thursday.
A sample of small vans, which were loaded with an average of 30 people, were brought across border crossings in Burgenland and across the green border to the area south of Vienna, fielded by the police from the beginning of 2021. The investigation pointed to an organization whose head is said to have been a 28-year-old Romanian citizen. Nicu Gavril O. had already been convicted and served a prison sentence in St. Pölten. But he actually managed to escape in November 2020 after outpatient hospital treatment. Last week he was arrested on a tip-off in Romania.
In October 2021, during a check in Burgenland, police officers discovered 29 people inside a van in extreme shortness of breath. Two people were appropriate. This, too, was assigned to O.’s organization. The 19-year-old fugitive smuggler was arrested in Latvia and extradited to Austria, where he faces charges of murder and smuggling. After an incident in January when a smuggler shot at young soldiers in southern Burgenland (he has since been caught in Hungary), the gang’s route changed. Since then, the towing has gone via Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the north of Lower Austria.
Ten people in a station wagon
Recently, the conspicuous small vans were no longer used, but station wagons and vans. Air springs were installed in the vehicles so that more than ten people could be put in station wagons and up to 17 people in vans. Interrogations and observations lead to a hotel in Vienna-Favoriten, which served as accommodation for the smugglers, and to car workshops in Lower Austria and Vienna, where the vehicles had been modified. An apparently high-ranking member of the gang, who was arrested after a long period of observation, made alleged statements. The Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner praised the good cooperation with the international police authorities, especially Romania.
Most migrants wanted to continue to Germany, Benelux and France. From Vienna, other organizations took over the towing. Investigators estimate that more than 36,000 people have been abducted by the 28-year-old Romanian’s organization since early 2021. The actual number could be far higher, according to the police.