65 million border checks performed, more than 100 people smugglers arrested

Frontex led Joint Action Days (JAD) Danube 8 against serious and organised cross-border crime in Central and South-Eastern Europe together with the Austrian authorities – the coordination centre set up in Vienna – 12 EU and EU-associated countries, Europol, Eurojust and INTERPOL. 

This international operation focused on combatting the smuggling of migrants, fighting trafficking in human beings and document fraud. Frontex standing corps officers, along with customs, border guards and police officers from the participating countries were conducting border checks yielding significant results. 

As a result of the week-long operation held between 23 June-3 July, the participating authorities managed to arrest 108 people smugglers and identify two cases of trafficking in human beings. Additionally, 115 false documents were detected, and 25 stolen vehicles were seized. 

INTERPOL confirmed 8 red notices for internationally wanted persons, 8 blue notices and 171 international arrest warrants were shared by the participating countries. In total, nearly 65 million checks were performed. 

Europol has performed 13 766 crosschecks against its databases of operational information contributed by the participating countries, which resulted in 180 hits. Europol also deployed its Virtual Command Post to facilitate information exchange between the participating countries and agencies.