42 people involved in migrant smuggling have been arrested as a result of a coordinated cross-border operation conducted by the Romanian Police and supported by Europol. The inquiry led to the dismantling of the organized crime ring, which was in charge of smuggling migrants from Bulgaria into Romania, over the Danube River, and eventually to Western Europe.

Authorities searched 33 addresses, including 18 in Calafat, 11 in Timisoara, and 4 in Argeş, according to Europol. Seven automobiles, passports, guns, electronic equipment, and a total of €32,000, 75,000 LEI, and 7,500 GBP in cash were recovered by law authorities during these raids.

The research revealed that members of the early 2023-founded criminal network included Romanian, Iraqi, and Bangladeshi people. The main source of migrants recruited by this network was the Middle East, with the aim of reaching Western European nations, especially Germany.

The smuggling operation took place in two phases: first, migrants were transferred by boat across the Danube River from Bulgaria, and then they were conveyed by freight transport in groups of 20–30 people to western Romania. In addition, smugglers used off-road vehicles, which were frequently packed with 13–17 migrants in 5-seater cars, leading to hospital admissions and accidents.

at the second stage, refugees were lodged at shady establishments in western Romania before being hid amid cargo in trucks and driven into Western Europe, specifically Germany, across the border into Hungary. For this journey, migrants paid between €3,500 and €5,000 per individual. A total of 20 transports with 500 migrants involved were detected.

Furthermore, fifteen people who were transporting migrants through the English Channel in tiny boats have been detained by Europol. This investigation targeted a network of Iraqi-Kurdish individuals suspected of utilizing substandard vessels to traffic undocumented migrants from the Middle East and East Africa to France and the United Kingdom. German officials raided houses and storage facilities at the same time.

A separate operation carried out last month in cooperation with Eurojust disrupted a criminal network that was adept at arranging false marriages as a means of facilitating illegal immigration to the EU. Fifteen people were apprehended as a result of this operation; thirteen were detained in Cyprus, one in Latvia, and one in Portugal.