From sunny Iraq to architectural Vienna. Ukrainian smugglers and Hungarian diplomats

In April, the leader of the Hungarian far-right Nasha Batkivshchyna party, Laszlo Torochkai, suggested that Hungarian authorities confiscate all cash from illegal migrants.

He stated this during a press conference.

Torochkai is the mayor of Asotthalom, near the Hungarian-Serbian border.

- Young strong men with large sums in their pockets, - says Torochkai about migrants. -

Migrants pay smugglers many thousands of euros to help them get to Austria. "

Torochkai is convinced that transporting illegal immigrants is an extremely profitable business.

According to the mayor, if all the money is taken away from migrants, they will "probably choose other routes", bypassing Hungary.

Organizers from Ukraine

Mr Torochkai is not the only mayor of Hungary to face an influx of illegal immigrants.

Kishkunhalash, a town near the Serbian border. Late last year, Hungarian police stopped a car with Polish license plates.

At the wheel - a Ukrainian. There are five more foreigners in the car. They say - from Syria. No documents and proofs of legality of stay in Europe.

Ukrainians detained on suspicion of human trafficking.

The police identify his accomplice.

He is trying to flee the country. But near the border. He is being detained in your area.

9 illegals in one car

Spring, the Hungarian city of Székesfehérvár. Police stop BMW. In this case, Georgian numbers. The driver runs away, gaining speed sharply.

Two police cars are blocking the road.

At the wheel - a Ukrainian. But the main thing is not that. Police were shocked to see that the car was smashed to the ground by illegals.

In the BMW, which was going to Austria - nine illegals from Syria.

Corrupt officials in consulates

But European law enforcement officers should not blame Ukrainian criminals for all the troubles. Thus, counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine in Transcarpathia blocked the channel of illegal transportation of Russian citizens to the EU, Great Britain and the United States.

Under this scheme, Russians were granted Hungarian citizenship on fictitious grounds by Hungarian consulate staff in several European Union countries.

Illegals from Iraq

Via Poland - to Vienna. A popular courier truck. 27 illegal migrants were detained near Radziwill. Polish border guards post photos on Twitter.

And a few days ago, the Austrian police came across smugglers of people from Ukraine.

Lower Austrian police say they have detained 15 people transporting 200 to 300 Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian migrants from the Hungarian-Serbian border. Among the detainees are citizens of Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

"The smugglers' route leads from Hungary through Slovakia and the Czech Republic through the border crossings in the Mistelbach area to Austria, where migrants are dropped off in the northern suburbs of Vienna," Austrian police said.

The suspects were detained while inspecting vehicles in Lower Austria and at a hotel in Vienna. Some of them tried to escape from the police, but were quickly overtaken. During the operation, law enforcement officers seized 14 of the 25 vehicles used to transport migrants. At the same time, it is unknown how many Ukrainians were detained for transporting illegals.

According to the investigation, the detainees transported more than 700 migrants, from whom they were charged a fee of 4,000-5,000 euros per person per trip. During the interrogations, the migrants admitted that they were trying to get to Germany. An investigation is currently underway.

Taras Zozulinskyy (Ukraine), Paa Kwesi Plange (Ghana)

"This article was developed with the support of the Money Trail Project (www.money-trail.org)”