Hungarian Police Launch Over 1,000 Investigations Into People Smuggling
- 7 Dec 2015 8:00 AM
Up to mid-November, Hungary’s police launched 1,168 investigations connected with people smuggling, compared with a total of 219 last year, the daily Magyar Idők reported. Zoltán Boross of the National Investigations Office told the paper that the police disbanded 20 gangs and had started proceedings against 193 suspects, out of which 68 were arrested.
Boross said that sealing off the Hungary-Serbia border and criminalising illegal entry were effective measures, but people smugglers continue to monitor weak spots and Hungary’s authorities cannot sit back.
“If they saw that control is slack, they would damage the fence and attempt to get further groups of people into Hungarian territory,” he said.
In recent months the smugglers could have escorted up to a daily 1,000 people across the Schengen borders. He added that the typical fare for someone leaving Afghanistan for Germany would be between 3,000- 8,000 euros.
Source www.hungarymatters.hu - Visit Hungary Matters to sign-up for MTI’s twice-daily newsletter.
MTI photo: Kelemen Zoltán Gergely
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