Home searches to dismantle an organized criminal group specialized in migrant smuggling

The organized crime group acted on several levels, namely recruiting groups of migrants on the territory of Turkey and preparing them for boarding on means of transport for the fraudulent crossing to Bulgaria and subsequently to Romania. After the migrants entered the country, the transfer segment to the places of shelter and boarding on trucks was activated.

Thus, some of the members of the organized crime group were tasked with recruiting drivers who were responsible for picking up, transporting and driving migrants from certain locations in the west of the country to the parking areas where they were transferred to trucks.

Another level, made up of transporters (people of Romanian nationality) received the pick-up and disembarkation locations from the organizers and transported the migrants, handing them over to the last echelon made up of truck drivers and forerunners.

The evidence administered in the case revealed that, between June and December 2024, 136 such transports were detected and stopped, totaling approximately 1,000 foreign citizens of Afro-Asian origin.

69 arrest warrants are being executed, with hearings to be held at the headquarters of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism – Timișoara Territorial Service.