There are currently 2,500 human smugglers from 73 countries being held in Hungarian prisons.Continue reading
The elimination of human trafficking networks can only be achieved through EU cooperation and international law enforcement collaboration, the prime minister’s chief advisor on homeland security told public television.
György Bakondi said that thanks to the cooperation between EU countries such as Austria, Croatia, and Hungary, and non-EU countries such as Serbia and Montenegro, the EU’s southern border is now more effectively guarded.
He said that Hungary would support it if the EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson would take concrete steps to spearhead this cooperation.
Bakondi noted that it is estimated that the income of people smuggling gangs exceeded three billion euros last year.
He also said that European operational agencies, including the Hungarian one, have detailed information on the trafficking gangs operating on the Balkan route. According to his information, there are five large trafficking gangs operating near the Hungarian border, which are also competing with each other, and the recent armed confrontations have been due to this.
Bakondi said that the bosses of the trafficking networks are not in Serbia, and that the trafficking is organized in Serbia by people who are already legally residing in the European Union who enter Serbia with EU documents.
Featured photo via Police.hu.