People-smuggling chain through Croatia and Slovenia busted

Goran Stanzl/PIXSELL (ilustracija)

Istrian and Slovenian police have completed a criminal investigation into six Croatian nationals suspected of a criminal enterprise involving trafficking people through Croatia and Slovenia.

Istria police reported on Wednesday that a 44-year-old Croatian national from the Istrian city of Pula was the leader of a group involved in organising the illegal entry and movement in Croatia of foreign nationals, as part of a criminal enterprise in which another five Croatian nationals participated.

The 44-year-old led the criminal enterprise and from March 22 to April 7 organised the place and time of the group’s picking up foreign nationals. The group would illegally transport them to Slovenia, and hand them over to a Slovenian national, who then transported the foreigners to Italy.

The criminal enterprise is suspected of illegally aiding thirty foreigners to enter and pass through Croatia and Slovenia, earning significant financial benefit.

Croatian organised crime police unit, Uskok, has filed charges against the suspects.

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