Slovak police cooperating with their counterparts from the Czech Republic say they have broken up an international organised group that had been obtaining forged documents for illegal migrants. Slovak police spokesperson Denisa Baloghová said that nine suspects aged 35 to 42 have been charged with the crime of trafficking, the SITA newswire reported. The police said that the group had earned over €180,000 from illegal activities since the beginning of this year.
If found guilty, the suspects – four Slovak citizens, four Czech nationals and one citizen of Austria – could face sentences of between 12 and 20 years in prison. Police say they are likely to charge more people with being members of the group. Meanwhile, courts have taken one Slovak in Slovakia and two Czechs in the Czech Republic into pre-trial custody. Members of the group were detained in an extensive international raid, involving officers of Slovakia's National Unit to Fight Illegal Migration and a Czech police team, that was intended to uncover illegally smuggled immigrants from Serbia, Montenegro and Vietnam. The gang was allegedly illegally securing documents from Slovak and Czech citizens, forging them and selling them to migrants. The group is reported to have forged at least 100 personal documents.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
