Germany Intensifies Efforts To Stop People Smuggling And Illegal Migration

 

Germany said it would ramp up police patrols along what it called “smuggling routes” on its border with Poland and the Czech Republic.

The announcement came a day after police raids in the country found dozens of Syrian citizens inside apartments searched in connection with a smuggling ring.

The new measures would begin immediately, said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. She did not elaborate on how many more border police officers would be deployed.

Faeser highlighted the urgent need to “stop the cruel business of smugglers who put human lives at risk.” 

“Border controls are to be intensified to stop smuggling and illegal migration,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wrote on X/Twitter. “To ensure that this succeeds quickly, I have decided that customs will support this urgent task with 500 staff.”

The announcement is meant to tackle smuggling and illegal migration as scores of migrants from Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere have been trying to get to Germany to apply for asylum.