Migrant trafficking network dismantled in Caraș-Severin/ Six DIICOT searches and dozens of people hidden in tractor-trailers bound for the West

Six people aged between 25 and 50 are being investigated by DIICOT prosecutors and Caraș-Severin police for forming an organized criminal group and migrant smuggling. On Saturday, investigators conducted six home searches in the county as part of a case targeting a pyramid-style network specializing in recruiting, directing, guiding, sheltering and illegally transporting migrants.

According to the Romanian General Police Inspectorate, the group allegedly operated in a coordinated manner starting in 2023, organizing successive transports and hiding migrants in tractor-trailers to smuggle them through Romania and send them to Hungary, Austria and Germany.

In August 2023, authorities identified 60 people from Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Ghana who investigators say had been illegally brought into the country by this network.

The suspects are being questioned at the headquarters of DIICOT – the Caraș-Severin Territorial Office. Police officers from Timișoara, Arad and Caransebeș, border police officers from Nădlac, officers from the Special Actions Service and gendarmes took part in the operation.