Greek police arrests 24 members of international refugee trafficking ring

Twenty four members of an international refugee-migrant trafficking ring were arrested in Athens last week and were taken before a prosecutor, Greek police said Monday.

Among the suspects was a 28-year-old Iranian national, who was believed to hold a leading role in the smuggling of at least 100 people from Asia to European countries via Greece since July 2016, according to Lieutenant Colonel Theodoros Chronopoulos, spokesman of the Greek Police.

The criminal network which operated across Europe was dismantled following coordinated police operations in Greece and Britain.

According to the police investigation, refugees and migrants from Syria, Iran and Pakistan were paying 3,000 to 15,000 euros (3,182 to 15,911 U.S. dollars) in fees per person to the smugglers, depending on the final destinations.

And the smugglers would help them to illegally travel via airports, using forged travel documents and visas from European embassies based in Iran.

During raids in three apartments and shops in Athens, Greek police found and confiscated approximately 1,200 passports, lots of false documents (residence permits and driving licenses), latest technology computers, printers and scanning machines, as well tools and equipment used for forging false documents.

In the possession of the suspects and in their premises were also found and confiscated 31,975 euros and 29,536 U.S. dollars.

The members of the ring which consisted of 17 Iranians, two Iraqis, two Pakistanis and three more individuals from Algeria, Azerbaijan and Tunisia were charged with establishment and participation in a criminal organization, counterfeiting and the violation of legislation regarding human trafficking.

Last week, a Greek court sentenced a Turkish trafficker to 63 years imprisonment for systematically smuggling refugees and migrants from Turkey to Greece.

He was arrested last year off the coasts of the island of Lesvos which has received about half of the more than one million people who crossed the Aegean since early 2015 seeking to reach central and northern Europe.

After the closure of the borders along the Balkan Route last winter more than 62,000 refugees and migrants remain stranded in Greece and traffickers are seeking alternative routes to central European countries.

The lucrative "business" of smuggling refugees and migrants into Europe had 5 to 6 billion euros revenues in 2015 for traffickers, according to European law enforcement agency Europol estimates. Enditem