Criminal group of migrant traffic destroyed in Romania’s Dolj county

In the case, it was noted that, during 2019, an organized criminal group was formed, consisting of Romanian and Bulgarian citizens, in order to commit the crime of migrant trafficking and complicity in the fraudulent crossing of the state border, in order to obtain large sums of money, a group that has acted so far.

The members of the organized criminal group carried out activities of rounding up, guiding, guiding, transporting, transferring and sheltering several migrants, in order to fraudulently cross the state border of Romania, by means that endangered the life, integrity or health of the migrants (crossing the Romanian-Bulgarian border with unsafe boats; abandoning groups of migrants in hard-to-reach areas and in unfavorable weather conditions; transporting migrants in unsuitable conditions – in trunks, in large numbers in narrow spaces and unsuitable for transporting people).

Specifically, the members of the group operating on the territory of Bulgaria guided and illegally transported migrants to the Bulgarian border with Romania. Here, they were taken over by the members of the group operating on the territory of Romania, being helped to cross the Danube river by boat, in the southern area of ​​Dolj county. In the territory of Romania, the migrants were transported, in a first stage, on foot and, later, with the help of cars, being sheltered in the buildings owned by the members of the group (where they were kept for several hours). Finally, they were loaded into trucks/cars and transported to the Timisoara area.
Migrants were willing to pay between 8,000 and 13,000 euros to reach Western European countries (especially Germany).

During the criminal investigation, 8 transports were documented through which the members of the group illegally introduced and transported approximately 182 migrants to Romania. The last transport was detected on 13.01.2023, when border police officers from the Territorial Service of the Dolj Border Police and the sectors in the area of ​​competence stopped a group of 21 Syrian citizens within the radius of the town of Bistreţ.

In the case, 17 home search warrants were executed, in Dolj county, 4 vehicles, 38,100 lei, 22,465 euros, a 9 mm pistol, a revolver with related ammunition, emission stations were identified and seized. reception, storage media and IT systems.
Following the proposal made by the prosecutors of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism – Territorial Service Craiova, the Dolj Court ordered the preventive arrest of the 21 defendants investigated in the case.
The action benefited from the support of the policemen from the Craiova Organized Crime Brigade and the border policemen from the Giurgiu Border Police Territorial Inspectorate.

Specialist support was provided by the Special Operations Directorate within the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police.
We make it clear that during the entire criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence.