It was an international, criminal business model with which a Romanian family exploited homeless, addicted and sometimes physically or mentally handicapped people for years. Since at least 2019, members of the family have been bringing Hungarian and Romanian citizens to four “bases” in Romania, Hungary, Ingolstadt in Germany and Bad Hall in Upper Austria. From there they were driven to various locations, such as grocery stores. There they had to beg for eight to ten hours a day. In the evening, family members picked up the beggars and took away the money they had collected. Their reward: a place to sleep on a mattress on the floor and a meal.
International cooperation
Thanks to intensive investigations led by the public prosecutor’s office (StA) Ingolstadt, officials in Austria, Germany, Hungary and Romania succeeded on Wednesday in arresting the alleged masterminds of the beggar gang. One of them, a 22-year-old, was caught in Bad Hall (Steyr district). He and the other three main suspects are accused of human trafficking and forced labor.
Officials from Romania, Hungary and Germany began investigating the gang in 2019. The triggers were statements by a witness who had been abused by the family for begging.
The Austrian police were contacted in September last year. The 22-year-old son of the original gang leader – the father has since passed away – had moved to Bad Hall. There, following the example of his relatives, the Romanian built up a gang of beggars. The Federal Criminal Police Office coordinated the international investigators with those of the Upper Austrian State Criminal Police Office (LKA).
Last Wednesday, investigators in all four countries coordinated access to the bases at the same time. On the basis of an EU arrest warrant from the StA Ingolstadt, the main masterminds were arrested in the four countries, including the 22-year-old in Bad Hall.
At the gang’s headquarters in Romania, 90,000 euros in cash and one kilogram of gold were seized. Numerous mobile phones were found in Bad Hall, where ten Austrian, two Romanian and one German officers were deployed. These should now be evaluated. The officials also discovered cash, but a large part of the income from Austria is likely to have been brought to Romania.
Delivery to Germany
According to the LKA, the 22-year-old should now be extradited to Germany. At the request of OÖN, the public prosecutor’s office in Ingolstadt confirmed that a corresponding application had been made. If the Austrian authorities grant this request, the Romanian will have to answer for the allegations made against him in Germany under German law.
The beggars, who the 22-year-old had harnessed for his purposes in Bad Hall, are now being cared for in the quarters of a victim protection organization.
Source: Nachrichten
