The Greek authorities dismantled a large illegal migrant trafficking ring from Greece to European countries.

As protothema.gr reveals, the crime organization has been operating since 2016.

Its members “hosted” illegal immigrants in apartments in the center of Athens and provided them with fake passports, or with passports they had stolen from tourists in Mykonos, Santorini and other popular destinations.

They even took care of their transportation to European Union countries through “Eleftherios Venizelos”. According to the Economic Police’s investigation, they operated with mafia-style practices and had its “tentacles” everywhere and in key positions.

A characteristic of the well-organized ring is that its members cooperated with a store that sold mobile phones and with a Western Union currency exchange in Athens.

These two shops transferred money to similar businesses operating abroad in order to safely traffic the “black” money from the sales of fake passports to immigrants and the fees they received to send them to EU countries.

Because all the transactions were done online it was very difficult for the authorities to trace them.

In fact, the members of the ring accompanied the illegal immigrants to the airport in such a way that they went unnoticed.

They kept their distance but were able to monitor their entry process at the departure gates of “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport.

And they were in possession of tickets that allowed them to enter the departure lounges to make sure that the immigrants got on the plane without any problem at the screening, regardless of whether these tickets were not used!

See Also:

Cyprus expects gas field development plan by end of year

It is impressive that they even changed their clothes in order not to give a target.

When something went wrong and the migrants were noticed during passport control, the members of the organization increased the security measures during their movement.

They kept their distance more, walked slowly or quickly depending on the situation.

To get the illegal immigrants to the airport they used a taxi or a bus to take advantage of the crowding.

To communicate with each other they did not make calls on their phones but they only used online applications and voice messages.

On the morning of last Wednesday, July 20, a raid was carried out by men of the Economic Police on shops and houses.

Immigrants who had tried to leave the country illegally on flights from Spata airport were arrested.

Then searches were carried out in “safe houses” that had been rented by members of the organization to host the immigrants, in Athens, Aegaleo and Nea Smyrni.

A total of 12 people were arrested.

Mobile phones and the total amount of 88,475 euros were confiscated along with the vehicle used as a means of transportation for the illegal immigrants.