Vietnamese people-smuggling network smashed - Main contents
Yesterday, a common action day took place against a Vietnamese internationally organised crime group (OCG) that smuggled Vietnamese nationals into the European Union. Police and judicial authorities from Czech Republic, Finland, France, the UK, Germany and Poland participated in the joint action, with the police and judicial operations coordinated from Eurojust at a coordination centre*. Operational activities were closely supported by Europol’s mobile office.
Authorities believe that the OCG has been operating at least since 2013. The migrants, using real or forged passports and counterfeit identification and residence documents, entered territories of several Member States, predominately Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, France and the UK. Each migrant paid between EUR 10 000 and EUR 15 000 to the OCG for documents and transport.
The arrested members of the OCG are being investigated for a range of serious offences, including aggravated facilitation of illegal entry and residence, money laundering, forgery, and sexual offences.
Three operational meetings were held at Europol, and two coordination meetings were held at Eurojust. A joint investigation team (JIT), whose setting up and activity was facilitated by Eurojust and Europol, was formed with Finland, Czech Republic, and the UK. Eurojust provided funding for the JIT.
Today’s coordination centre was chaired by Lukáš Starý, Chair of Eurojust’s Trafficking and Related Crimes Team and National Member for Czech Republic. He stated at the close of the coordination centre: ‘Today’s operation is another successful example of cross-border cooperation in the fight against serious organised crime. Eurojust analysed data, organised and hosted coordination meetings and coordination centres, and provided funding for the JIT. All these activities, including Europol’s analytical and operational support, facilitated cooperation and investigation by the authorities of Czech Republic, Finland, France, the UK, Germany and Poland and contributed to disrupting the activities of this illegal immigration network.’
Figures at a glance:
26 arrests
15 illegal migrants found
37 searches carried out
1 500 - 2 000 cannabis plants discovered, worth approximately EUR 1.5 million
Mobile telephones, SIM cards, laptops, documents, etc.
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*Eurojust’s coordination centres are held on the action day and are used to coordinate the operations at judicial level in the involved countries. Eurojust’s coordination centres facilitate real-time information exchange between judicial and law enforcement authorities and enable on-the-spot decision-making and immediate response by national judicial authorities to new developments. Coordination centres also provide all involved countries with an up-to-date overview of the operations and results.
For more information on JITs, please see Eurojust’s website under JITs, as well as issue #9 of Eurojust News.
For prior press releases involving people-smuggling cases handled by Eurojust and Europol, please see: 17 December 2013, 2 June 2013, 20 November 2012, 22 June 2010, 9 June 2009, 31 January 2008.
Photos: © Eurojust
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EUROJUST
Ulf Bergström
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E-mail: ubergstrom@eurojust.europa.eu
For all Eurojust press releases, please see www.eurojust.europa.eu (Press centre)
EUROPOL
Søren Kragh Pedersen
Chief of Media and Public Relations
Europol Corporate Communications
Tel: +31 70 302 5001
E-mail: Soren.pedersen@europol.europa.eu