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Migrant smuggling ring dismantled in Germany, Romania

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, NOVEMBER 14 - The German and the Romanian police, supported by Europol, have dismantled a "massive" criminal network that was using also trucks to illegally smuggle migrants to western Europe, the EU law enforcement agency Europol informed today. Europol said that the police in Romania arrested four alleged members of the crime group, suspected of having smuggled nearly 580 migrants towards Western Europe, using the Romanian city of Timisoara as a 'hub'. "During the final leg of the journey to western Europe, the migrants were forced to travel in lorries," a possible life threatening situation, Europol noted. "Loaded into cargo vehicles, migrants can suffer from lack of oxygen and dehydration, risking their lives before reaching their final destination," the agency said. The investigation, concluded after two years, uncovered a network composed of at least 36 members who earned more than 2 million euros from nearly 580 smuggled migrants. Austria, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Eurojust also took part in the operation, Europol added. (ANSA).