Suspected smuggler in custody
A suspected smuggler who was arrested late Monday evening in Western Pomerania near the Polish border is in custody. The Pasewalk district court issued an arrest warrant for the Ukrainian on Tuesday, the federal police announced. He is alleged to have committed another smuggling operation.
The man had been traveling in a van that had no seats in the back and was carrying nine people. They were Afghans, according to the federal police. They had made a request for protection and had been taken to the state's initial reception center in Stern Buchholz in Schwerin. They reportedly stated that they had traveled to Germany via the Russian Federation, Belarus, Latvia and Poland. The suspected smuggler had picked up the group in Latvia and brought them to Germany. The van was checked by the federal police near Blankensee in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald late on Monday evening.
The suspected smuggler's alleged smuggling operation might be linked to the rising trend of migration along the Russian Federation, Belarus, Latvia, and Poland borders. The increase in such activities often leads to an uptick in related crimes.
Source: www.dpa.com
