An investigation into an organized crime group that brought 750 illegal immigrants from Syria into Britain and Germany has led to the arrest of 20 people across Europe.
The operation, led by German police supported by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Europol, involved raids in Austria, Poland, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Netherlands on Nov. 20.
The NCA said the network charged each of the 750 Syrian migrants it smuggled between 4,500 euros ($4,739) and 12,000 euros ($12,637).
Political leaders in Germany, Britain, and several other European countries have struggled to cope with levels of illegal immigration, facilitated by people-trafficking gangs.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has seen an increase in their vote in Germany, and Reform UK, which campaigned on the issue, won five seats in Parliament in the UK general election in July.
This latest network smuggled illegal immigrants through the Balkans and into Eastern Europe, with Germany being the final destination for the majority.
Some would then be transported onwards to the Netherlands, where they would either be smuggled into Britain in the back of trucks or be brought across the English Channel in small boats.
The NCA said the network had been active in 20 countries since 2021.
Four people were arrested in Germany, six in Austria, six in Serbia, and three in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In a statement from the federal police in Munich, and the Traunstein public prosecutor’s office, emailed to The Epoch Times, they said the four suspects arrested in Germany were all Syrian nationals between the ages of 31 and 43.
They have been accused of smuggling 748 people, two of whom died while being trafficked from Belarus to Latvia.
The NCA said raids were also undertaken in the Netherlands and that vehicles, cash, cellphones, and computers were seized.
The NCA’s director of investigations, John Denley, said, “This was a major operation targeting a dangerous and harmful international people smuggling network operating in multiple countries, and impacting on the UK.”
The only arrest in Britain was of an Iraqi national, Hussam Al Ramli, 35, who was arrested at his home in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
He is alleged to have arranged for migrants to cross the border from Belarus to Poland, and then arranged their journeys to the German border.
The NCA said he advertised his service on social media.
Polish police officers accompanied the arresting officers, and he is expected to be extradited to Poland, where he will face trial.
The EU said the increase happened after the 27-nation bloc imposed sanctions on Minsk after an allegedly rigged election.
Dame Angela Eagle, who is the British minister for border security and asylum, said: “We will stop at nothing to root out criminal networks wherever we find them. This includes working with partners overseas in collective pursuit of organized criminal smuggling gangs.”
That investigation began after a number of Turkish and Syrian illegal immigrants were arrested in Germany, having crossed the borders with Austria, Poland, or the Czech Republic.
Britain held a general election in July, and the Conservative Party, which had tried to introduce a policy of sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda for processing, was defeated and replaced by Labour, which said it would step up the fight against people traffickers.
Although the Syrian civil war has ended, there are still more than 5 million Syrians in refugee camps in the Middle East, and some of them attempt to enter Europe illegally.
