A Romanian-Hungarian gang of human traffickers acted extremely violently: the perpetrators exploited people in poor health and mental health by sending them begging in Austria and Germany.
The gang has been the subject of investigations by police authorities in Romania, Hungary and Germany since 2019. After one of the main suspects had settled with his partner in the Steyr-Land district, the State Criminal Police Office of Upper Austria and the Federal Criminal Police Office were also involved. The suspects found their victims in Romania and Hungary and smuggled them to Austria and Germany, where they forced them to beg. In Austria they were taken to Feldkirch, Linz, Bad Hall and Steyr, in Germany to Berlin, Nuremberg and Ingolstadt. They are said to have received only alcohol and little food as food.
There were eleven victims in total, who, according to Europol, earned the perpetrators around 200,000 euros. Four suspects were arrested on Wednesday, one of them in Austria. The 22-year-old was taken to the Garsten prison.
Source: Nachrichten
