Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 27, 2004, Wednesday
09:51:43 Central European Time

Austrian police find 28 Chinese crammed into van

Innsbruck, Austria

Police said on Wednesday they discovered 28 Chinese crammed into a
van in a “particularly unscrupulous” case of human trafficking. An
announcement quoted by the teletext service of Austrian ORF television
said the discovery was made on a highway near the town of Hall
in Tyrol. The Chinese were believed to have been transported from
Nuremberg, Germany, and were to have been smuggled into Italy. Police
said the driver of the vehicle, a 28-year-old unemployed Czech citizen,
was arrested. They were still looking for accomplices. The Chinese
would be sent back to Germany during the day. In Eastern Austria,
the Directorate of Security in Lower Austria province meanwhile
said that 59 refugees and migrants had been stopped on Monday and
Tuesday for illegally crossing the borders. The majority of 31 were
Russian citizens, the statement said. There were also nine Georgians,
seven Armenians, six Mongolians, two Moldavians, and one person each
from the Ukraine, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as one stateless
person. dpa qu jm