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Five Russian nationals detained in Germany and Poland for organizing illegal migration

Russian embassies in Germany and Poland said they had no information at their disposal

© EPA/ARNO BURGI

THE HAGUE, January 31, /ITAR-TASS/. Police in Germany and Poland have detained five individuals of Russian nationality suspected of being linked to illegal migration, the Europol reported on Friday.

“With the support of Europol, five individuals of Russian nationality have been arrested in Germany and Poland, for the smuggling of irregular migrants.

Those arrested are suspected of being part of an organised criminal network, composed of mainly Russian nationals with Chechen origin, who facilitated the illegal immigration of fellow country nationals via Poland to Germany.

The criminal group operated from various European countries and recruited Polish taxi drivers to transport the migrants across borders and to asylum centers in Germany. The group is suspected of smuggling more than 200 irregular Chechen migrants since March 2013, charging around EUR 1500 a time for the ‘service’,” Interpol said on its website.

“On top of the two arrests in Germany and three in Poland, a number of house searches were carried out and important evidence was confiscated including computers, hard drives, mobile phones and SIM cards.

More than 170 officers from the German Federal Police - Regional Criminal Investigation Department Munich, plus officers from Polish and Belgian law enforcement authorities, were involved in the operation.

Throughout the investigation, Europol facilitated the exchange of intelligence and provided analytical support to the investigators,” Europol wrote on its website on January 31.

Russian embassies in Germany and Poland said they had no information at their disposal.

“The Polish authorities have not informed us about the incident as of yet,” Valeria Perzhinskaya, the press secretary of the Russian embassy in Poland, said. The embassy’s consular section does not have any information about the arrested Russians.

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