Prague, Sept 3 (CTK) – Up to 30,000 people smugglers take part in the transport of refugees to Europe according to Europol data, Europol Deputy Director and and former Czech police president Oldrich Martinu, told Radio Impuls yesterday.
He said 30,000 people were investigated over people-smuggling in the European Union and 1400 investigations are underway.
Most of the people-smuggling activities are organised, sometimes in a very sophisticated manner, Martinu told Impuls, a commercial Czech radio station.
Some highly professionalised refugee smugglers have legally operating firms that cover up their activities, Martinec said.
“They present themselves as travel agencies because one pays a ticket and is transported somewhere. Or they present themselves as headhunting HR agencies if they recruit refugees,” he said.
Europol can participate in the investigation of similar cases if they concern at least two EU member countries.
Martinu said there has been no evidence of terrorists or jihadists arriving in Europe among the refugees, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out and it is a security risk from the long-term view.
A prevailing majority of the foreign fighters among Islamic State militants belonged to minorities that settled on EU territory, he told Impuls.
These foreign fighters can commit terrorist acts anywhere in the EU, including the Czech Republic, Martinu said.
Within the current migration wave, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Middle East and African countries stricken by war or poverty, especially Syria, are heading for the EU.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini proposed yesterday to the defence ministers that the vessels used by the smugglers to transport refugees across the Mediterranean Sea be captured and possibly destroyed in international waters within the EU naval operation.
On Friday, the prime ministers of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries will discuss the refugee crisis in order to reach a joint position ahead of EU negotiations.
