Arrested migrant smugglers "earned EUR 500K" in six months

Arrested migrant smugglers "earned EUR 500K" in six months

All members of the group were arrested in late September, and a large part of the money was found and seized.

The extensive operation launched by Serbia's Service for Combating Organized Crime (SBPOK) was prepared for several months and finally realized in Belgrade and Kragujevac.

"The has been great contribution from the Hungarian and Austrian police. According to operational information, the smugglers from April until September smuggled around 400 migrants. Among them were mostly Syrians, Somalis and Iraqis. They were taking advantage of the migrants' misery and charged them EUR 1,200 per person for the transfer from Belgrade to Hungary or Austria. They made contact with migrants in reception centers in Bogovadja and Belgrade," an Interior Ministry (MUP) source told the newspaper.

During the search of apartments and other facilities used by the criminal group the police found and a large amount of money earned from the smuggling of migrants.

In addition to combating human trafficking, the SBPOK discovered and broke up as many as 14 organized criminal groups in the first ten months of this year, the article said, and specified that the service targeted money counterfeiters, car thieves, and drug dealers.