Some Romanian Roma ethnics have found a new business opportunity in the refugee crisis. They help the refugees who are currently stationed in Hungary get to Austria and Germany dressed as gipsies, in exchange for large fees.

Roma organizations in Transylvania reported this situation to Romanian and Hungarian authorities.

“Several Roma organizations in Transylvania warn Romanian and Hungarian authorities about some facts related to the refugees in Hungary. Roma people from Romania help some Arab refugees to reach Austria and Germany, for large amounts of euro, by dressing them in traditional gypsy clothes to confuse the Hungarian police,” said Aurel Pascu, president of the Cluj-Napoca Roma Umanitate Association, cited by local Mediafax.

According to him, several Roma ethnics from Romania have travelled to Hungary by car in recent days and there they have been recruiting Arab refugees from Budapest to help them cross the border to Austria or Germany. They would dress the refugees in traditional gipsy clothes and take them to Vienna or Passau in Germany, as Hungarian law enforcers haven't been paying attention to gipsies.

“The cars have Romanian plates and all the passengers seem to be Roma ethnics so the Hungarian and Austrian police let them pass without problems,” said Pascu.

In return, they asked each refugee they helped to pay some EUR 1,500. However, they asked no such fee for children.

Aurel Pascu said that he also spoke on behalf of other Roma associations and asked the Romanian and Hungarian authorities to take actions against such attempts. He said the associations he represented didn't want Romania to be criticised again by the EU because of the Roma.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: freeimages.com)