STA, 30 July 2020 - Four citizens of Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands face charges after they have been found helping a total of 46 migrants enter Slovenia illegally in the area covered by the Murska Sobota Police Department in the north-east of Slovenia.

According to a press release issued by the department on Thursday, two Belgian citizens and a Bulgarian were apprehended on Tuesday, 21 July after helping 17 migrants cross the border illegally.

A day later, a Dutch national was apprehended along with a group of 29 migrants he had assisted to enter the country illegally.

All four alleged smugglers have been remanded in custody by an investigating judge and their vehicles have been seized by the police.

Meanwhile, the Maribor Police Department has reported that four illegal migrants were found hidden away in two lorries at two border crossings with Croatia on Wednesday evening.

A Palestinian was discovered hidden in an articulated vehicle with Turkish licence plates at the Gruškovje crossing after two Syrians and an Afghan were found on a lorry with Slovenian licence plates at Središče ob Dravi.

The Palestinian has been returned to the Croatian authorities, while the Croatian police took over the procedure for the two Syrians and the Afghan because the two police forces conduct joint border checks at Središče ob Dravi.

Slovenian police handled 4,993 illegal border crossing attempts from January to the end of June, a decrease of 12.4% compared with the same period last year, a fall blamed on the pandemic lockdown and border restrictions.

The cases were up in May to 903 and surged to 1,689 in June, which compares to 1,200 in the same peak month last year.

STA, 9 March 2020 - Celje criminal investigators are filing preliminary criminal charges against four suspects and a legal entity for forcing at least 24 foreign women, most of them from Ukraine, into prostitution.

 Presenting the conclusions of an investigation that had been running for more than a year, Boštjan Hmelak, the head of the organised crime division at the Celje Police Department, said none of the suspects, aged between 42 and 74, had previous criminal records.

They face charges on a total of 25 counts of crime, including human trafficking, which carries between three and 15 years in prison as well as a fine.

The police inquiries established that the ring lured young women from abroad, mostly from Ukraine and socially deprived areas, by means of ads and personal contacts.

After putting them up in a hotel with a night club and a casino, the suspects forced the victims into prostitution. If they resisted, the women were punished by being deprived of their earnings or having their contracts cancelled.

The suspects also made money from the clients who had to pay the women costly drinks as a precondition for sexual services.

The investigators have so far identified 24 victims of human trafficking. Aged between 24 and 40, most come from Ukraine, one is a Romanian citizen and one comes from Moldova.

They have since returned home or left to work at other clubs. None of the 12 women interviewed by the police identified themselves as victims of crime.

The suspects were in control of eight to twelve victims on average each of whom had about 250 patrons a month, said Hmelak.

One of the suspects, employed as a waitress, was found with EUR 104,000 in cash on herself. The police are yet ascertaining how much all the suspects had made from criminal activity.

STA, 24 October 2019 - Slovenian police have busted a ring that made an estimated EUR 1.3 million in illegal gain by smuggling Chinese nationals to Italy through Slovenia. Of the four Slovenians and eight Chinese operating the ring, three are in detention and two in house arrest, Maribor police said on Thursday.

One of the detained suspects is a Slovenian citizen and the others are Chinese with permanent residence in Slovenia.

The members of the ring are suspected of helping at least 143 Chinese enter Slovenia illegally through Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia over the past year and a half, Maribor's criminal police chief Beno Meglič said at today's news conference.

To get illegally from China to Italy, a Chinese citizen had to pay from EUR 9,000 to EUR 14,000, the police officer said.

The smuggled persons had been lured to Italy in China and transported to Europe, chiefly Moscow, by plane.

The route then ran to Serbia's Belgrade, from where they were taken on to Croatia or to Bosnia, and from there to Slovenia, Italy's eastern neighbour.

The Chinese entered Slovenia in the north-east of the country, in the area near the city of Ptuj.

Taxi services were used to transport them from Ptuj to the Italian border or to Italy, with four of the suspects posing as taxi drivers.

As many as five of Slovenia's eight police departments took part in the investigation, which lasted a year and a half and ended on 16 October.

The police also seized some EUR 39,000 in cash, passports and several electronic devices.

Under the Slovenian penal code, the crime of smuggling people illegally across the state border carries a prison sentence of one to eight years, and a fine.

STA, 21 October 2019 - An international police investigation into trafficking in illegal migrants has concluded with criminal complaints filed against 10 persons, including four Slovenians. They are charged with at least 24 cases of transportation of illegal migrants across the border.

The investigation into the trafficking of migrants to the EU through the Balkan countries, which has been taking place since April, has been conducted by the police forces of Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Europol.

Their representatives offered some fresh statistics on illegal migration to the EU as they presented the operation at a press conference in Koper on Monday.

Uroš Lavrič of the General Police Administration said that the Slovenian police had detected an increased number of criminal gangs which organised trafficking in illegal migrants.

One of the cases which prompted the international police cooperation was a wild pursuit of a Slovenian who was transporting three Iraqis in his car, and who was stopped by the Italian border police only in Trieste.

Dejan Jurič, the head of the Koper police department, said that at least ten persons had participated in the criminal gang, and that it was headed by a 28-year-old Slovenian from the Piran area.

According to him, sufficient evidence has been collected to prove at least 150 illegal crossings of the border by citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Eritrea and Afghanistan.

Criminal complaints have been written for a total of 24 criminal acts of illegal crossing of the border, with one criminal act related to illicit drugs and one criminal act of illegal production and trafficking in arms.

A total of 150 migrants who have crossed the Slovenian border illegally have been apprehended, and seven of the suspects have been detained.

The migrants most frequently crossed the border in the area of the border crossings of Dragonja and Jelšane in the south-west and in Babno Polje in the south.

The smugglers charged them between EUR 1,500 and EUR 3,000 for the transportation from Serbia to Italy. Had the operation succeeded, the criminal gang would have earned up to EUR 450,000 said Jurič.

Lavrič pointed to the "uncompromising behaviour of the smugglers" lately, as they were endangering migrants with reckless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol or by putting a large number of migrants in vehicles.

In the last 30 days alone as many as six cases were recorded of a smuggler transporting between 24 and 38 foreigners in a single vehicle, he added.

The statistics shows that the number of related criminal acts processed by the Slovenian police this year is up by 71% compared to the same period last year (365 to 213).

The number of related criminal acts committed as part of a criminal ring increased almost seven-fold, and the number of cases of trafficking in illegal migrants for material gain increased by 59% (from 132 to 210).

According to Lavrič, last year the Slovenian police apprehended 218 persons who were transporting illegal migrants across the border in a total of 153 cases.

Until 18 October this year, there were a total of 260 such cases, an increase of 132% compared to the same period last year (112).

So far a total of 379 smugglers of illegal migrants have been apprehended, including 37 Slovenian citizens, and 312 of them ended in detention. They were transporting a total of 2,246 illegal migrants.

Svevlad Hoffmann, the chief inspector of the border police of Bosnia-Herzegovina, said that the criminal gang had been well organised, transporting around 350 illegal migrants across the Bosnian border.

He expressed the hope that the EU would recognise the effort and provide the Bosnian police with staffing, material and technical assistance so that it could be equipped comparably to border police forces in the west.

Gabor Stankovič of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre noted that the Balkan migration route was still a "hot potato" for the EU, adding that "migrations are not a problem of one country, but the entire EU."

Stankovič noted that Bosnia-Herzegovina was facing enormous migration pressure, adding that at least half of the smuggling cases reported to Europol came from the Western Balkans.

STA, 15 October 2019 - The Novo Mesto police, which noticed signs of a migrant smuggling ring on the south-eastern section of the border with Croatia a year ago, said on Tuesday they had caught 11 individuals suspected of involvement in at least 30 smuggling operations.

The investigation showed that prices for the transport of individual migrants ranged between 300 and 400 euros.

France Božičnik of the Novo Mesto Police Administration said that the smuggling had mostly been done in the boots of cars rented abroad.

Several arrests of Slovenian suspects, aged between 20 and 30, and mostly from the area near the border, were made by Slovenian police, while Croatian police also arrested several Slovenian and Croatian citizens.

Criminal complaints have been filed against 11 individuals, with several house searches conducted in September yielding evidence of a people smuggling ring.

The head of the ring has been in prison since June over unrelated criminal acts, while the rest have not been detained. They face up to eight years in prison.

Meanwhile, Božičnik said that a total of 86 of migrant smugglers had been arrested in area overseen by Novo Mesto police this year. They had tried to smuggle 530 foreigners. In 2018, 52 smugglers were caught, who tried to get 290 migrants across the border.

Two migrants crash car stolen from near Novo mesto

STA, 16 October 2019 - Two citizens of Morocco were involved in a car accident in central Slovenia at 4 AM this morning. According to police, the pair, which had illegally crossed the border, hit a road fence on a regional road between Litija and Zagorje, just east of Ljubljana while driving a stolen car.

The cause of the accident was speeding and the car was allegedly stolen in the Novo Mesto area, the Ljubljana police department said in a press release.

The driver sustained light injuries and was transported to the Trbovlje general hospital in an ambulance, while the passenger was not injured.

The police investigation continues.

STA, 12 September 2019 - A sports journalist of the commercial broadcaster POP TV was apprehended last Sunday by the Slovenian police on the border with Croatia under suspicion of smuggling illegal migrants to Slovenia.

Reporting on the incident on its web portal 24ur.com on Thursday, POP TV condemned and distanced itself from the actions by the journalist, who has already been dismissed.

The Ljubljana-based private broadcaster regretted the incident and explained that it had not been acquainted with the acts by the journalist committed outside his job and that it had not been aware of the possible personal circumstances he had found himself in.

POP TV condemned any violations of regulations, adding that, as smuggling and assistance in smuggling migrants across the border with Croatia was on the rise, it would continue to report extensively on the "abuse of the distress of refugees and of the victims of smuggling".

Two Serbians found with 12 migrants in back seat of car

STA, 12 September 2019 - Two Serbians smuggling a dozen illegal migrants were arrested early morning on Thursday following a car chase of at least 10 kilometres. When the car was forced to a stop, the police found ten Pakistanis and two Indians cramped in the back seat.

The police tried to pull the car over just outside the town of Ljutomer in northeast Slovenia, but the driver continued driving at high speed in the direction of the motorway, the Murska Sobota Police Administration said.

This started a car chase that ended when the car driven by one of the Serbians crashed into the police car and then hit the safety rail on the motorway, according to the police.

The press release does not specify how long the chase lasted, but the nearest motorway entrance is some 10 kilometres away from the location where the police spotted the suspicious car.

The man in the passenger seat escaped the car but was tracked down by the police. The Serbian citizens were both detained and will be charged with smuggling illegal migrants, which carries a sentence of up to five years and a fine.

All our stories on illegal migration can be found here

STA, 10 September 2019 - Ormož police have caught a man from Ljubljana transporting in his van as many as 40 foreigners who had illegally crossed the border. One person had to be hospitalised, while the 35-year-old driver was brought before an investigating judge, who ordered that he be placed in custody.

 Next to the 40 foreigners caught in the van, police found another six, who could not fit in the van, in a near-by forest.

Among the foreigners apprehended 40 were the citizens of Pakistan, five of Afghanistan and one of India, the Maribor Police Department said in a press release.

One of the foreigners had to be admitted to a hospital because his health condition suddenly deteriorated, while the rest have already been returned to Croatian police.

The 35-year-old driver from Ljubljana remains in custody in Ptuj.

STA, 28 August 2019 - Police in Celje have apprehended several persons suspected of trafficking some 280 migrants across the Slovenian border in a sting that involved over 70 criminal investigators conducting house searches in and around the city.

Eight suspects face trafficking charges and two will be additionally charged with offences related to illicit drugs. Four of the suspects remain in detention and one is abroad. All of them are Slovenian citizens, the Celje police said on Wednesday.

The suspects, some of whom have previous trafficking convictions, are believed to have run a part of a larger international criminal racket specialised in trafficking migrants.

The group is believed to have trafficked migrants from Croatia through Slovenia and into Italy in collaboration with multiple other foreign gangs, charging EUR 2,000-3,000 per person, according to Damijan Turk, the head of the Celje criminal police.

The racket enlisted drug addicts and other persons from the margins of society to carry out the actual transport with vans and cars, often even in rented recreational vehicles. The drivers would get EUR 250-500 per migrant.

Uroš Lavrič, the head of the organised crime division at the General Police Directorate, said human trafficking activities of criminal rings had picked up recently as they take advantage of illegal migrations along the Balkan route.

"They use various methods to keep the trafficking covert. They are ruthless," he said about the traffickers' habit of stuffing between 30 and 50 migrants into the cargo holds of vans.

Police have arrested 273 suspected traffickers so far this year, compared to 218 in the whole of 2018.

They intercepted over 9,000 migrants who tried to cross the border illegally, up 62% over the year before, show data by the General Police Directorate.

A total of 6,223 persons were returned to Croatia and 3,255 requested asylum.

Related: Smuggling People Now More Profitable than Drugs for Organised Crime in Slovenia

Radio Slovenia has a report that looks at the economics of human smuggling in Slovenia, finding that the profits can be even greater than those of moving illegal drugs across borders.

The story – which comes after a spike in police interceptions of human traffickers, with, for example, seven people recently arrested in Celje for moving at least 270 individuals through Slovenia –  interviews a former intelligence officer, Boštjan Perne , with over 15 years of intelligence experience in the Balkans. He claims that human smugglers now charge more than €5,000 for transport in trucks along a route that leads directly from Turkey to Western Europe. However, this price is too high for many would-be migrants, who thus tend to pay less, from €200 to €500, to be moved across individual borders.

Related: Foreigners Account for 1/4 of Slovenia’s Prisoners, Most Jailed for Human Smuggling

While Perne states that Slovenians are obviously involved in this aspect of organised crime, he also notes the international nature of the business: "If we look at the different nationalities currently imprisoned for trafficking in human beings, you will see that here [Slovenia] is the real mecca of different nations - Serbs, Croats, Pakistanis, Slovenians, Germans, Italians."

All our stories on human trafficking are here

STA, 27 August - The police apprehended on Monday two migrant smugglers transporting a total of 38 migrants in two vehicles in the Kočevje and Cerknica areas in south Slovenia.

Nearby the town of Kočevje the police apprehended on Monday morning a Romanian driver transporting 31 migrants in a van.

According to the Ljubljana Police Department, police officers stopped the van following a local's tip-off and apprehended the driver upon discovering his human cargo. None of the 31 migrants has requested for international protection.

Other recent cases

Meanwhile, a Lithuanian was caught in the vicinity of Cerknica on Monday evening trying to smuggle seven Afghanistan citizens who have illegally crossed the border and are still being processed.

The Novo Mesto police department meanwhile reported on Tuesday the capture of two smugglers transporting larger groups of migrants.

Nearby Črnomelj in the south, the police caught an Italian who was transporting 34 Pakistani and Afghan migrants in a single van on Monday afternoon.

Moreover, a Slovenian citizen was apprehended at Mokrice in south-eastern Slovenia on Sunday evening transporting five Kurdish illegal migrants with Turkish citizenship. He has been placed in detention.