Two in the trunk

Trafficker crammed eight refugees into a car

The police managed to stop the smugglers after a short manhunt. The Syrians were happy to get out into the open.

(Bild: Christian Schulter)

A smuggler wanted to smuggle a total of eight men through Burgenland. Due to lack of space, he had to hide two of them in the trunk. But he was caught after a short time. 

It certainly wasn't comfortable in the Volvo with French license plates. A total of nine people had squeezed into the car, which is only designed for five adults. The ride was probably the most comfortable for the driver at the wheel and the passenger.

Two in the trunk
In the back seat, on the other hand, the space was quite cramped - five men sat next to and on top of each other. Even worse off, however, were the two men who, due to lack of space, only had the trunk left, in which they had to involuntarily snuggle up to each other.

Operation with quick success
The smuggler had probably only just crossed the border in central Burgenland and had not been on Burgenland territory for long when the police launched a manhunt for the suspicious vehicle. The operation quickly led to success. Shortly before Wepppersdorf, the officers managed to stop the fully loaded vehicle. The men, some of whom were sitting on top of each other, left little doubt that it was a towing vehicle.

The trafficker and the eight refugees had squeezed into a Volvo like this one.

(Bild: Christian Schulter)

Migrants glad of fresh air
One by one, the crammed migrants climbed out of the car. In view of the lack of "travel comfort", the eight men from Syria were probably not entirely unhappy about this abrupt end to their journey. Although they were in good health, they were also glad to finally be out in the open again.

For the people smuggler, however, the journey ended in handcuffs. It was not possible to question him on the spot as he could not speak a single word of German. It is therefore still unclear whether he was acting on his own initiative or on behalf of a gang. The Armenian was arrested.

32 smugglers have already been caught
The smuggler is one of a total of five smugglers who have been caught in the past week alone. Since the beginning of the year, 32 smugglers have been arrested thanks to the diligent work of the police. The number of refugees apprehended is much higher: almost 3300 this year.