A hit against criminal network smuggling migrants from Greece to Germany

This week, officers from the German Federal Police CIU Halle (Bundespolizei CIU Halle) and Hellenic Police/Aliens Division of Attica (Elliniki Astynomia), supported by Europol, targeted an organised crime group involved in the smuggling of migrants from Greece to Germany and other EU countries. During the simultaneous actions, German authorities raided four locations, while Greek authorities searched two houses and arrested one of the main suspects. During the searches, officers from the Greek police found a large number of ID documents in the house of the main suspect. Previously, the German authorities identified four suspects residing in Germany.

The criminal network, which has been active since 2020, predominantly consists of Syrian nationals. The suspects smuggled migrants mainly via flights from Athens to destinations in Germany. When the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the limitation of flights, the criminals shifted their smuggling routes, opting for transportation via boat across the Mediterranean. The suspects used lookalike documents, taken from people they knew, to migrants mainly from Syrian origin. The network charged between EUR 3 500 and EUR 4 500 for each person they smuggled from Greece to their final destination in Western Europe. 

Europol facilitated the exchange of information and provided analytical support. On the action day, Europol coordinated the police activities and crosschecked operational information against Europol’s databases in real time to provide leads to investigators in the field.