A group of six have been charged in the Latgale District Court for last year’s crime of smuggling migrants in fake police and border guard buses from the Belarusian border area. Two attempts failed, but one succeeded, and 24 border crossers were dropped off in a forest near Olaine, Latvian Television reported on 14 April.
Six Ukrainian citizens arrived in Daugavpils from custody. Some of them were detained in October at the end of Operation “Trap”, in Aizkraukle region, carrying border crossers in a fake police van , others in November, in Krāslava region, in a fake border guard van .
The accused confessed that before these two cases, there was another one, which succeeded.
“The same persons successfully committed a crime in September, i.e. they managed to take the migrants to the vicinity of Riga,” said Sergejs Frolovs, prosecutor of the South Latgale Prosecutor’s Office.
It is not known what happened to the border crossers dropped off in Olaine. The Ukrainians were recruited in Poland and Germany and had not committed any crimes in Latvia previously.
In total, four of the six accused have pleaded guilty. In the hope of a quicker and more favourable trial, the defendants have asked for a plea bargain.
“In this category of cases, the penalties demanded from the prosecution are severe. In my opinion, this case can also be about imprisonment only,” said prosecutor Frolovs.
Two to eight years in prison – this is what the supporters of the border violators have to reckon with. They are currently on trial, one of the organisers of the criminal group is still in Poland awaiting extradition.
Meanwhile, the saga of the fake vans continues. Last week, a “Daugavpils Bus Park” minibus was stopped at the border. The State Border Guard claimed that a new criminal group had started operating.
This time, only one carrier was detained, although he initially tried to escape from the border guards. He fled by driving and then by running, into the forest, but alone, as he had not yet had time to wait for the offenders. One migrant, however, had already crossed the border.
“He was a scout. His job was to come and see if the vehicle in question was already there. 20 people were waiting on the Belarusian side,” said Māris Pukinskis, Head of the Criminal Investigation Service of the Daugavpils Directorate of the State Border Guard.
The scheme has been worked out, only the imitated vehicles change, concludes the Border Guard Lieutenant Colonel. Local residents also share tips on how to imitate the bus.
“Locals take photos, send information via Telegram. They get paid for it,” Pukinskis said.
This is difficult to prove, but they are being monitored by operatives, the border guard claimed. It should be added that the number of border crossers deterred has also increased sharply in recent days with the warmer weather.
The Border Guard Service reported that 179 people tried to cross the Latvian-Belarusian border illegally in the last three days.
This year, a total of 877 people have been stopped from crossing the border illegally, while seven migrants have been admitted on humanitarian grounds.
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