A 19-year-old Latvian was caught in his home country, the Burgenland state police department reported on Tuesday. He is said to have steered the vehicle and fled while being checked by soldiers of the armed forces. He is currently in custody.
The 19-year-old is said to have brought 29 migrants across the green border near Siegendorf on October 19. At that time, two Syrian refugees could only be rescued dead from the small truck. You must have suffocated. An alarm manhunt, which also took place across borders in Hungary, was unsuccessful.
As a result, according to the police, investigations were started against an international association which is said to have brought mainly Afghan and Syrian refugees to Austria. In the course of this, twelve smugglers were arrested in Austria and eight others in Hungary, which ultimately led to the fugitive driver of Siegendorf. Because he was back in Latvia in the meantime, a European arrest warrant was issued and contact was made with the Latvian targeted investigation unit. In Ogre, the 19-year-old was finally caught on the street.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) highlighted the work of the Federal Criminal Police Office’s target investigators, who had taken over the search for the smuggler at the end of November at the request of the Burgenland State Criminal Police Office. “Thanks to this close-knit network of security authorities and the good international cooperation between the police, no perpetrator on the run can feel safe,” emphasized Karner. The 20 other smugglers who were arrested in the course of the investigation are in custody.
Source: Nachrichten
