Over a hundred people were caught trying to illegally cross the Romanian border at Nădlac into Hungary in just one day, according to a report issued by the National Border Police on May 28.

Sometime during May 27 – May 28, the border patrol stopped two trucks. According to the documentation presented by the two drivers, one Romanian and one Bulgarian, the trucks were transporting refrigerators to companies located in Germany and Italy. They stated that they were “unaccompanied” by anyone else.

The border patrol guards carried out a detailed check and discovered 104 people hidden amongst the refrigerators. Following the discovery, the migrants were collected and transported to the district headquarters for investigation. During preliminary investigations, it became apparent that these people were foreign citizens from countries such as Turkey, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal who were trying to gain access to one of the countries in the Schengen Area, even if it meant doing so illegally.  

Investigations are still being carried out to establish the level of criminal activity and, once completed, necessary legal measures will be taken.

This is not a singular event, with numerous accounts of this same phenomenon being reported over the past few years.

And while the drivers caught in this instance claim to have been completely unaware of their stowaways, official opinions about the general issue of illegal migration in the EU cast a heavy shade of doubt on the veracity of their statements.

According to Europol, a large number of illegal migrants have their journey facilitated by a criminal organization, even if just for a certain portion of it.

In May, a criminal group that had facilitated the smuggling of more than 36,000 illegal migrants was broken up by the Sighetu Marmației Border Police here in Romania, with the help of Austrian authorities. According to Agerpres, the group’s profits exceeded EUR 150 million, with an average transfer costing somewhere around  EUR 4,000 per migrant. 

Investigations revealed that the group was coordinated by a 28-year-old Romanian citizen who was wanted in Romania, Hungary, and Austria. The criminal network consisted of more than 250 traffickers from Romania and several other countries. 90 other members of the trafficking ring were arrested in Austria, and, on May 4, the group leader was arrested at his house in the county of Cluj. 

maia@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Politia de Frontiera Facebook page)