Germany apprehends up to 30 human traffickers monthly at border crossing

Record ID: 165498

  • Title: Germany apprehends up to 30 human traffickers monthly at border crossing
  • Date: 24th January 2017
  • Summary: KIEFERSFELDEN, GERMANY (JANUARY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) GERMAN POLICE STOPPING WHITE AUSTRIAN-REGISTERED VAN AT AUSTRIAN-GERMAN BORDER ON A93 HIGHWAY VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN STOPPING TRUCKS, AN AUSTRIAN-REGISTERED AND A (BLUE) SLOVENIAN-REGISTERED VARIOUS OF POLICEMAN TALKING TO DRIVER OF BULGARIAN-REGISTERED WHITE VAN VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC JAM APPROACHING GERMAN BORDER POLICEMAN STOPPING DARK GERMAN-REGISTERED STATION WAGON POLICEMAN SPEAKING TO DRIVER (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FEDERAL POLICE SPOKESMAN ROSENHEIM DISTRICT, RAINER SCHARF, SAYING: "We regularly come across people smugglers as part of these border checks. We're talking about 20 to 30 human traffickers a month, in other words, we have one people smuggler at least every other day as part of our border checks." VARIOUS OF POLICEMAN TALKING TO DRIVER OF BRITISH-REGISTERED CAR ARMED POLICEWOMAN STANDING BY POLICEMAN TALKING TO DRIVER OF WHITE VAN PARKED GERMAN POLICE VAN ROOF UNDER WHICH GERMAN POLICE SPEAK TO PULLED OVER DRIVERS POLICEWOMAN SPEAKING TO DRIVER OF HUNGARIAN-REGISTERED CAR, HOLDING DOCUMENTS
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2017 17:57
  • Keywords: refugee refugees migrants border police German Austria border
  • Location: KIEFERSFELDEN, GERMANY
  • City: KIEFERSFELDEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00160FWMDJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Although the flow of migrants into Germany dropped considerably since the so-called Balkan route was closed last spring, 20 to 30 human traffickers are still apprehended at one single border crossing every month, German police said on Tuesday (January 24).
    German authorities praised the effectiveness of border checks, such as the one on the A93 highway on the Austrian-German border at Kiefersfelden.
    Police were seen pulling over cars, vans and trucks at the border crossing.
    "We regularly come across people smugglers as part of these border checks," said Rainer Scharf, German federal police spokesman for Rosenheim district.
    "We're talking about 20 to 30 human traffickers a month, in other words, we have one people smuggler at least every other day as part of our border checks," he said.
    Last spring, Germany and some other European Union members introduced temporary border checks to control or halt record flows of migrants fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere and travelling to western Europe via the Balkans.
    Germany took in more than one million migrants in 2015.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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