Smuggling ring dismantled in cross-border op with Italy

Rome: A joint police operation across Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia and Croatia has dismantled a network of Pakistani nationals accused of operating a clandestine migrant smuggling ring.

Authorities have dismantled a migrant smuggling ring that was transporting people into Italy via the so-called Balkan Route, passing through Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia.

Six people were arrested and an arrest warrant has been issued for another one for preliminary investigations by the Trieste court. All those implicated are reported to be Pakistani nationals.

The operation was conducted between Wednesday and Thursday (April 14-15) by Trieste police alongside their Slovenian, Croatian, and Bosnian counterparts.

The inquiry began in February 2024 after an irregular Indian migrant was beaten in Trieste alongside another man of the same nationality by two Pakistani immigrants with residency, but who filmed the violence and sent the video to the victims’ relatives to demand 2,000 euros as a form of blackmail.

The money was reportedly sent via money transfer through Pakistan, France, and Italy. The beneficiary was a foreign national with legal residency in Trieste, a city in northeastern Italy.

The police intervened and arrested the two hostage takers, freeing the two Indian nationals.

Three other people connected with the incident are under investigation but have not been arrested.

The investigation, conducted through information exchanges between the Slovenian and Croatian police, made it possible to discover the links between the Pakistani nationals who, from Bosnian refugee camps — with a focus on the one in Bihac — brought Pakistani, Nepali, Afghan, and Indian migrants to Italy through forests in Croatia and Slovenia.

In Zagreb, the migrants were housed in flats and then taken from there to Slovenia and then on to Italy. The cost of the journey ranged between 4,000 and 6,000 euros.

One of the smugglers living in the Logatec refugee camp in Slovenia was arrested on May 14 by police in Capodistria, while another who had been recruiting migrants in Bihac is sought by Croatian and Slovenian police. The other five were arrested in Trieste.

Another 30-year-old Pakistani national found to be in possession of drugs was also arrested. All are charged with aiding and abetting clandestine immigration as well as kidnapping for the purpose of extortion and aggravated injuries committed multiple times against migrants of different countries.