Smuggled 200 People To EU Via Croatia

They charged between 1,000 and 1,500 euros for each smuggled person across the border.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - The Croatian police have arrested 52 persons in the “Tara” operation, suspected of 52 felonies of illegally transporting persons across the state border. According to the head of Croatian BFI, Tihomir Kralj, it is suspected that four criminal groups illegally transported at least 192 persons.

The “Tara” operation began on November 6 last year when first probes were launched.

- We have detected newly formed smuggling groups which appeared in our country and which were connected with the groups in neighbouring countries. We carefully started the campaign in collaboration with the Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), police departments of surrounding countries and the SECI centre – Kralj said.

Price – 1,000 to 1,500 euros

The smugglers were very careful about their business, trying to cover up their tracks by all means, i.e. to stay below radar. The groups from Croatia were connected with smugglers from neighbouring countries. The persons were transported across the border with regular transport lines, in personal vehicles, taxies or vans. The persons were accommodated at secret locations before the transport and payments were conducted via messengers – drivers of regular bus routes or Western Union.

The arrested criminal groups often used illegal border crossings and a guide. The price for transporting one person across the border ranged between 1,000 and 1,500 euros. Mostly, persons from the Near and Far East sought these services, who wanted to enter the European Union countries.

Campaign named after the Tara River

According to representatives of Austrian, Slovene and Bosnia-Herzegovina police, 22  more persons were arrested in these countries.

None of the arrested men resisted arrest, according to police heads.

Zoran Galic, representative of the BH Police Department said that there were no main organisers of these criminal groups.

- There isn`t anyone in the top with smuggling people. This is a great problem for us, because the criminal network becomes tougher. There are regional bearers, of course, which we have arrested, to our knowledge – Galic said.

Interestingly enough, this campaign was named after the Bosnian Tara River, as the yonder police noticed that the major part of the smuggling chain passed there.

40 Arrested in Police Operation ‘Tara’