Police in Slovakia break up gang of immigrant smugglers

The Associated Press
12/16/04 07:27 EST

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) – Railway police in Slovakia broke up a
gang of people smugglers who helped illegal migrants get into Austria,
officials said Thursday.

The 15-member gang was made up of Russians, Azerbaijanis, an Afghan,
an Armenian and Slovaks. One of the Slovaks was the head of a refugee
camp who illegally issued leave tickets to refugees.

The gang charged the migrants between US$200(euro150) and
US$600(euro448), said the head of Slovakia’s railway police, Tibor
Gaplovsky. Police estimate that the group earned some two million
koruna (US$69,300s, euro51,700).

The gang used trains or taxis to transport the refugees or just
walked them over to neighboring Austria. Police have been monitoring
the gang since 2003, and they estimated that the gang has helped at
least 115 migrants to get to Austria. Dozens of others were detained
in Slovakia.

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 illegal migrants pass through
Slovakia on their way to the West every year, and nearly a third
are intercepted by police.