Image: Volker Weihbold
Police officers wanted to check a van in Puchenau on Tuesday around 9 a.m. and followed it. The 24-year-old driver began to flee and drove at up to 160 km/h. The police managed to stop the Georgian’s vehicle. The driver himself fled through a hedge about two meters high, ran across the three-lane road and jumped over the tracks of the Mühlkreisbahn. In the course of a search, the smuggler was arrested and taken to the Linz prison.
There were 19 people in the cargo hold of the vehicle, including six minors. The photographs were torn out or made unrecognizable from all passports. When questioning the 13 adults, the State Criminal Police Office found out that they paid between 8,000 and 10,000 euros to get from Turkey to Germany or France. Due to the cramped space conditions and the unbearable heat in the hold, the towed people had shortness of breath.
Eight people found in truck trailer
The next day, police officers in the Enns Nord commuter car park were made aware of another case. A truck driver asked a police patrol for help around 4 p.m. and indicated that knocking noises could be heard in his trailer. In the hold were seven men from India, Pakistan and Tajikistan and a woman from Ghana. Those who were dragged were handed over to the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum.
Source: Nachrichten
