Major Europol and Serbian Interior Ministry Operation: Human smuggling network dismantled

As stated by Minister of Internal Affairs Ivica Dačić, the operation was carried out by members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Criminal Police Directorate, the Service for Combating Organized Crime, and police officers from the Belgrade Police Department's Search Unit, in coordination with the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime in Belgrade.

The statement said the arrests followed a months-long joint international investigation aimed at uncovering and dismantling an international human smuggling network. The investigation was initiated by German police, with the support of Europol and Eurojust.

According to the statement, Syrian nationals A. B. (born in 1994) and F. B. (born in 1994) were arrested in Belgrade based on international Interpol warrants issued by Germany.

"On the same day, in connection with this joint international investigation, another member of the organized criminal group was arrested in Germany, and several searches of apartments and other premises used by the suspects were carried out at multiple locations," Dačić said, according to the statement.

According to him, the coordinated international operation by German and Serbian police, coordinated by Europol, resulted in the arrest of members of two connected Syrian criminal networks suspected of smuggling more than 900 migrants into the European Union. The networks were allegedly operating simultaneously along routes across the Mediterranean Sea and the Western Balkans.

According to information from German police, the first criminal network organized the smuggling of a large group of irregular migrants from Libya via the island of Lampedusa to Germany for financial gain, while the second criminal network, also motivated by financial gain, organized the smuggling of a large group of irregular migrants along the Western Balkan route to Germany and other European countries.

Earlier, during 2025, five high-ranking members of this organized criminal group were arrested in coordinated operations carried out in Germany, the Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The procedure for the extradition of the arrested Syrian nationals A. B. and F. B. to Germany is currently underway," Minister Dačić said.