Migrant smugglers increasingly using Balkan route

Migrant and refugee smugglers are currently using the route through Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary to Austria more than the Mediterranean route, according to the latest results from Frontex, reports the Patria news agency.

From January to July this year, 102,342 people entered Austria via the Western Balkans, at least 10,000 more than the number who entered Europe via the “central Mediterranean” route, Frontex announced.

As the investigation continues following the tragedy in which dozens of refugee bodies were found in a truck in Austria, the Europol agency announced today that it will hold a series of meetings at its headquarters in The Hague, attended by officials from at least six countries, indicating that smugglers are operating on a multinational level, controlling this increasingly popular route, reports the British “Guardian”.

Europol has so far collected data from 500 agencies across Europe and quickly linked those arrested in connection with the deaths of refugees to other cartels.

Shortly after the driver of the truck in which the bodies were found was arrested on Friday, the agency located a criminal network spanning the continent.

“In our intelligence database, we very quickly established a link with one or more suspects, which was very useful for the Austrian authorities, as it opened up some new investigative avenues that we are coordinating with many European countries,” said Rob Wainwright, head of Europol.

As reported by the “Observer”, a third of Europol’s 130 ongoing human trafficking investigations are linked to criminal groups originally formed for drug smuggling, money laundering and selling girls into sexual slavery.

The agency announced yesterday that it has identified 3,000 “serious players” linked to human trafficking in Europe, reports Tanjug.