Slovenia breaks up two people-smuggling rings

Slovenia breaks up two people-smuggling rings

The first group, led by two Egyptian citizens with permanent residence in Slovenia, smuggled illegal immigrants from Turkey, Palestine and Egypt via Croatia.

If apprehended, those immigrants applied for asylum but left the Asylum Home in Ljubljana after a couple of days and continued their way to the West, Slodej said.

The immigrants paid EUR 2,000-3,000 for the journey and the police believe that the group earned around EUR 235,000 by organizing such illegal crossing of the border.

Slovenian police carried the operation dubbed "Sfinga" in cooperation with the Hungarian police forces.

The other operation, "Furlan" was carried out in cooperation with the Croatian and Bosnian police forces. The group, whose Slovenian arm was headed by a 37-year old Slovenian citizen, smuggled people from Serbia, Albania and Turkey.

The trip cost EUR 1,500-3,000 and Slodej said by smuggling at least 108 people the group had earned around EUR 300,000  between November 2006 and April this year.