Two arrested for migrant smuggling in downtown Athens
A man aged 47 and a woman, 45, have been charged with migrant smuggling, resisting arrest and document forgery, among other offenses, after police caught them transporting seven undocumented migrants in central Athens, according to an announcement on Tuesday.
The suspects were reportedly arrested after a police squad car chased their vehicle across Acharnon Street in downtown Athens when it failed to stop at a signal from officers who found the fact that the car was so tightly packed with people suspicious. The incident occurred on Sunday morning.
The seven migrants – four men and three women – in the vehicle have reportedly been identified as being from Nepal.
Another 11 undocumented migrants, also from Nepal but also Thibet, were subsequently found packed into an apartment where the suspected smugglers were reportedly taking the seven new arrivals. Investigators found cash, passports, phones and other potentially incriminating evidence at the apartment.
All 18 migrants are believed to have been smuggled into Greece through the Bulgarian border by a gang, of which the two arrested suspects are thought to be members.
They had reportedly paid the gang between 500 and 1,000 euros each to be brought into Greece.
