As AFP reports, on Friday in France, six members of a migrant smuggling group were sentenced to one and a half years in prison for illegally transporting migrants from Hungary to Austria.

The men were part of a wider network that smuggled migrants of Syrian, Afghan, Libyan, Tunisian and Algerian origin to Schengen countries in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) and then delivered them to Austria .

Once there, the migrants were able to spread to other countries of the European Union, including France, particularly by rail.

The criminal court in the city of Créteil, on the outskirts of Paris, found the defendants guilty of facilitating the stay of foreigners in the country of the Schengen agreement, and in the case of 5 of them, of participating in a criminal community. However, he removed the aggravating circumstance of organized crime.

Six people aged between 21 and 26 played different roles in the network. Some were minibus drivers who transported migrants from one point to another, others drove opening machines, and still others were responsible for transferring money for travel expenses (hotels, vehicle rentals) and paying traffickers.

The events for which the persons were tried took place between May and October 2022.

Last October, the Office for the Fight against Illegal Trafficking in Migrants (OLTIM) launched an investigation led by the Kretej Prosecutor’s Office in cooperation with the judicial authorities of Austria and Hungary.

Six people were detained in early May. For four, a preventive measure was chosen, and for two – judicial control.

Earlier, the police services of Hungary and Austria convicted and imprisoned five French citizens who were part of the same network.