Police Arrest 13 for People Trafficking into Montenegro
Source: Balkan Insight
Enforcement agencies have announced the arrest of 13 suspected traffickers alleged to have smuggled over 300 people into Montenegro from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Syria.
Police arrested 13 people suspected of being part of a trafficking gang that smuggled hundreds of migrants into Montenegro.
Prosecutors say the gang, investigated for several months by specialist police units, is thought to have trafficked 352 people from countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Syria into Montenegro. Police said three people, one of them who is on the run, are suspected of being the ringleaders of the gang.
The arrests were made in the town of Pljevlja, close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina and around 180 kilometers from the capital, Podgorica.
“The group is suspected of illegally transferring a large number of people across the border of Montenegro and enabling others to illegally cross the border or illegally stay or transit..for the purpose of obtaining financial or other benefits,” the Special State Prosecutor’s Office told BIRN.
Last July the Montenegrin Interior Ministry announced that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex and Montenegrin police will jointly be deployed at the country’s borders in order to prevent illegal migration.
According to police data, 2,192 migrants entered Montenegro in the first eight months of 2024.
Montenegro is a key part of the Balkan migrant route, which goes from Turkey across Europe via Greece, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia.
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
