The Schengen database helps European police to find missing minors and dangerous fugitives.
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The Schengen Information System has helped European authorities recover missing minors, save vulnerable individuals, and arrest suspects wanted for cross-border crime, through common alerts and ongoing cooperation between SIRENE offices.
In short
The Schengen Information System is the most widely used and largest European information exchange system for security and border management.
SIS is used by border, immigration, police, customs, and justice authorities in the EU and in Schengen associated countries.
SIS alerts and SIRENE cooperation have helped resolve cases of missing children, including a parental abduction that began in 2011.
The system has supported the arrest of suspects wanted for drug trafficking, arms trafficking, money laundering, armed robbery, and other serious crimes.
One of the fugitives arrested in 2025 was also wanted by Moldova for abduction, rape, and other crimes, after attempting to use a false identity.
In a Schengen area without checks at internal borders, the Schengen Information System operates as a common tool for border, immigration, police, customs, and justice authorities from EU member states and Schengen associated countries.
The European Commission describes SIS as the most widely used and largest information exchange system for security and border management in Europe. The system allows for the entry and verification of alerts regarding missing persons, wanted persons, suspects, terrorists, or tracked objects or vehicles.
According to the Commission, SIS has contributed to the arrest of dangerous cross-border criminals, the apprehension of terrorists detected in the EU, and the reunification of missing children with their families. These results depend on cooperation between police officers, border guards, immigration authorities, customs officials, and judicial authorities from several European states.
The operational efficiency of the system is based on the SIRENE network. Each participating country, as well as Europol, has a SIRENE office that operates continuously, 24 hours a day, for the exchange of additional information and coordination of SIS alerts.
SIRENE offices use standardized and secure communication channels, so that authorities can act quickly, confidentially, and in coordination when an alert is identified in another state.
A case of parental abduction that began in December 2011 was resolved in June 2025, after Hungarian authorities located and arrested the mother and recovered the child. The case began when an Italian father reported that his daughter, then a baby, had been abducted by her mother.
A European arrest warrant and a SIS alert regarding the missing minor remained active during the investigation. After years of cross-border investigation between Hungarian and Italian authorities, the mother and child were found in June 2025.
The girl, who had lived in isolation, was placed in the care of her maternal grandmother, with the father's consent. She receives psychological support and maintains regular contact with her father.
Another case involved the Portuguese police, which intercepted, between October and November 2025, a vehicle with false license plates. The intervention, based on SIS alerts, led to the rescue of two missing children and subsequently to the location of a third minor.
The driver, a Portuguese citizen, was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, driving a stolen vehicle, and driving without a license. Subsequent investigations led to the location and protection of a third minor related to the case.
Direct access to SIS alerts, the rapid intervention of Portuguese police, and the exchange of information through SIRENE with German authorities enabled the rescue and protection of the three children.
SIS has also been used in cases of missing adults. In April 2024, a Spanish sailor was reported missing by his daughter after he failed to arrive on the expected coastal shipping routes near Italy or Greece.
Spanish authorities issued a SIS alert and sent requests to the SIRENE offices in Italy and Greece. This was followed by a cross-border air and sea search operation, conducted under difficult weather conditions.
Italian rescue teams located and recovered the sailor after several days adrift off the coast of Italy.
SIS has also supported arrests in organized crime cases. In December 2024, a Lithuanian citizen, considered a key figure in a transnational arms and drug trafficking organization, was located and arrested in Spain through SIS alerts and SIRENE cooperation.
The suspect used encrypted communications and money laundering to coordinate serious crimes in Europe. The arrest came after years of coordinated investigations between police in the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, and Spain, with the support of Europol.
After several failed transfer attempts, the SIRENE office in Spain ensured the handover of the suspect to Lithuania based on a European arrest warrant.
In July 2025, Czech police arrested a Russian drug trafficker wanted by Germany for over a decade at Prague airport. The arrest occurred after a SIS check, and the suspect's identity was confirmed through fingerprints.
Another case involved a Greek-Swiss citizen wanted since 2014 for laundering sums derived from bribery against the Greek state. Before capture, he had changed his name using a new Swiss identity document.
Rapid exchanges between the SIRENE offices in Switzerland and Greece allowed for the updating of the SIS alert with the suspect's new details. The man was located in Spain, arrested, and extradited to Greece in June 2025, based on a European arrest warrant.
In November 2025, a coordinated investigation by Czech and Austrian police regarding a series of burglaries in Austria led to the confiscation of two vehicles in the Czech Republic and the arrest of four fugitives wanted for organized crime, armed robbery, and other serious offenses.
European arrest warrants and SIS alerts issued by Austria, along with the rapid response of Czech police, enabled the apprehension of the suspects. One of those arrested was also wanted by Moldova for abduction, rape, and other crimes.
The suspect had attempted to evade capture using a false identity but was identified through fingerprints. The case illustrates the role of biometric checks in detecting fugitives using false identities in the European space.
The European Commission states that these operations demonstrate the role of SIS alerts and cross-border cooperation facilitated by SIRENE in protecting European citizens.
The Schengen Information System is one of the central infrastructures of the Schengen area. In the absence of systematic checks at internal borders, SIS allows authorities in participating states to quickly verify persons and objects reported by other states.
The SIRENE network complements SIS alerts by exchanging additional operational information. This allows authorities to confirm identities, coordinate actions, execute European arrest warrants, and manage sensitive cases such as child disappearances, parental abductions, or locating fugitives.
SIS is used both for the protection of vulnerable individuals and for combating serious crime. The cases mentioned by the Commission cover cooperation between EU member states, Schengen associated countries, and Europol, as well as interactions with authorities from countries such as Moldova in cross-border criminal cases.
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