A coordinated international operation has dealt a significant blow to two international migrant smuggling networks with close links to Libya and the Western Balkans, leading to the arrest of three High Value Targets in Germany and Serbia.

This follows several years of intensive and extensive investigations led by the German Federal Police under the direction of three Bavarian Public Prosecutors’ Offices. 

The action day, carried out on 5 August 2026, brought together authorities from Germany and Serbia under the framework of an Operational Taskforce coordinated by Europol. Investigators targeted senior members of two interconnected Syrian criminal networks believed to have organised the smuggling of more than 900 migrants into the European Union.

The operation resulted in:

• 3 High Value Targets arrested in Germany (1) and Serbia (2);
• 6 searches in the Saarbrücken area in Germany;
• the seizure of extensive evidence, now under forensic examination.

Smuggling migrants across two of Europe's busiest routes

The investigations uncovered two Syrian criminal networks operating simultaneously along the Central Mediterranean and Western Balkan migration routes, exposing the irregular migrants to life-threatening conditions throughout the journey while generating substantial illicit profits.

One criminal network with links to a militia operating in Libya allegedly arranged dangerous sea crossings from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa aboard overcrowded and unseaworthy boats carrying up to 61 migrants without life jackets or other safety equipment.

Migrants, predominantly Syrian nationals, are believed to have paid between EUR 6 500 and EUR 7 800 per journey before being moved onwards to Germany through secondary smuggling networks. Investigators estimate that this criminal network alone generated at least EUR 875 000 in illicit profits. During the investigation, one of the suspects was also repeatedly found with suspected counterfeit euro banknotes with a value of between EUR 30 000 and EUR 100 000.

A second criminal network operated from Serbia, coordinating the movement of migrants along the Western Balkan route towards Germany and other Western European countries. The network allegedly charged between EUR 2 000 and EUR 10 000 per person to smuggle predominantly Syrian nationals from Serbia via Hungary and from Bosnia and Herzegovina via Croatia into the European Union. From there, migrants were transported in cars, vans and lorries through Austria, Czechia, Poland, or Slovakia before reaching their final destinations. 

Three senior facilitators targeted

The three suspects arrested had all been prioritised as High Value Targets within the Europol-coordinated Operational Taskforce, reflecting their prominent roles in organising large-scale migrant smuggling operations across multiple countries.

The suspect arrested in Saarbrücken, Germany, is a 26-year-old Syrian national, believed to have organised the smuggling of at least 125 migrants in five different facilitation journeys since October 2024. 

The Serbian authorities also arrested in Belgrade two senior members of separate migrant smuggling networks on the basis of international arrest warrants issued by Germany.

One suspect, a 31-year-old Syrian national, is believed to have coordinated at least 17 large-scale smuggling operations involving more than 150 migrants travelling along the Central Balkan route under dangerous conditions between April and November 2022 alone.

The second suspect, aged 32, allegedly played a central logistical role in a network responsible for moving at least 625 migrants through Serbia towards Western Europe between 2023 and 2024. 

Five additional members of this network had already been arrested during coordinated actions in Germany, the Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2025.