A migrant smuggling gang in Poland has been dismantled by police officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBŚP) in cooperation with the Polish Border Guard.
Nine individuals were arrested following a month-long investigation, including an individual currently serving time in a Polish correctional facility who was brought to the Warsaw prosecutor’s office.
The gang is accused of having smuggled at least 200 foreign nationals into the country, each paying around €5,000. According to the CBŚP, the gang has been organizing illegal border crossings since 2021.
Investigators stated that after foreign nationals had crossed the border between Belarus and Poland, they were transported by cars to the German border where they were abandoned. “From that point, the migrants crossed the Polish-German border on foot, with their destination being Western European countries,” said CBŚP spokesman Paweł Żukiewicz.
“Among those arrested is a man suspected of leading this group, while the other ‘leader’ was brought from a correctional facility where he was already serving a sentence in another case,” Żukiewicz added in relation to the suspects.
The detainees were taken to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, which is overseeing the investigation. The detainees face multiple charges, including operating as an organized criminal group and organizing illegal border crossings from Belarus to Poland for undocumented foreign nationals. Two of them have been charged with leading the criminal group.
Investigators say that the case is still ongoing and developing.
