Poland busts migrant trafficking ring, Belarusians among suspects

January 12, Pozirk. Polish border guards and prosecutors have arrested 23 persons on suspicion of facilitating illegal migration from Belarus, the Polish Border Guard’s press office reports.

Gang leaders and drivers, nationals of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine are among the arrested, it added. They all have been charged, while eight have been taken into custody.

The gang reportedly ran two illegal migration routes via Belarus and the Balkan countries.

Migrants took flights to Russia or directly to Belarus, where they received assistance in illegally crossing the Polish-Belarusian border outside border checkpoints. Suspects allegedly picked them up on the Polish side to transfer to Western Europe.

Illegal migrants also arrived in the Balkan countries by sea, passing to Western Europe via Poland.

In 2023, Poland registered at least 25,571 illegal border crossings via Belarus, after thwarting 15,655 attempts in 2022.

The migration crisis at the Belarusian-EU border started in spring 2021 after Alaksandar Łukašenka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent migrants from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.

It escalated in November 2021, with hundreds of migrants storming the Polish border.

The Baltic states and Poland accused Belarusian authorities of orchestrating illegal migration, while the latter blamed it on the West.

In August 2023, the interior ministers of Poland and the Baltic States warned that they would close the border with Belarus in case of a surge in illegal migration.