The gang is said to have illegally brought more than 100 people – Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis – to Styria. Around 280,000 euros were earned, as the state police announced on Friday. In the course of many years of investigations and the arrests of people smugglers, investigators from the State Criminal Police Office tracked down the gang. Between September 2019 and March 2021, seven smugglers from apparently the same network were caught. These are men between the ages of 24 and 47. They come from Iraq, Pakistan, Georgia and Ukraine. A European Arrest Warrant was issued against another man.
Backers extradited to Austria
The investigations, which were also conducted internationally, ultimately led to two backers. The Iraqi (40) and the Tunisian (42) were arrested in Poland at the end of last year. They have now been extradited to Austria, where they are awaiting trial in the Graz-Jakomini prison. The organization around the two main suspects is said to have illegally dragged a total of 102 people from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan to Styria on 24 trips. For the journeys through Croatia and Slovenia, they mostly used rented vehicles from Slovenia. The two men have not yet confessed.
The Styrian investigators worked together with the public prosecutor’s office in Graz, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BK) and foreign police authorities in Slovenia, Croatia and Poland. The European police authority Europol was also involved.
According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, more than 40,000 people were arrested nationwide in 2021 who had crossed national borders illegally and sometimes with the help of smugglers. That is almost twice as many as in the previous year (2020), but significantly fewer than in the years 2012 to 2017 (with a peak in 2015). At the same time, nearly 400 people smugglers were identified.
Source: Nachrichten
