Massive EU Smuggling Ring Busted: Over 100,000 Illegal Migrants Transported
A massive migrant smuggling network responsible for facilitating more than 100,000 illegal entries into Europe has been dismantled by Austrian authorities and Europol (Europees Politiebureau) after a 15-month investigation, resulting in at least 130 arrests across seven European Union countries.
The operation, known as Operatie Ancora (Operation Ancora), is described by investigators as the largest successful crackdown on an organized migrant smuggling network in European Union history. According to prosecutors in Vienna, the criminal group earned more than €1 billion over several years by transporting migrants across borders into Europe.
Authorities revealed that the network consisted of up to 800 members linked through family and criminal connections across central and eastern Europe. Investigators found the group used roughly 1,000 vehicles to move migrants through different countries. A mobile phone shop in Vienna allegedly served as the logistical and financial center coordinating the entire operation.
Officials say migrants were typically transported from Turkey through the Balkans into Austria and often onward to Germany. Smugglers reportedly charged up to €20,000 per person for the journey. Investigators also discovered firearms and narcotics during raids linked to the operation.
Authorities revealed that the network recruited young drivers through social media, particularly from countries such as Moldova, Romania, Georgia, and Ukraine. These drivers were often instructed to use high-powered luxury vehicles to avoid suspicion and maintain speed during possible police pursuits while traveling through smaller border crossings.
The Vienna public prosecutor’s office has already prepared an indictment exceeding 300 pages, accusing suspects of crimes ranging from membership in a criminal organization to aggravated migrant smuggling causing death. Officials say the full number of fatalities linked to the network’s operations remains unknown.
Investigators noted that the scale and profits of this smuggling network surpass even the infamous Hongaarse vrachtwagen tragedie (Hungarian lorry tragedy) of 2015, when the bodies of 71 migrants were discovered inside an abandoned truck in Austria. That case had previously triggered Europe’s largest investigation into migrant smuggling activities.