Not one, not two, but 16 illegal migrants were discovered by police in specially designed hidden compartments in the truck bed of a vehicle driven by a 31-year-old Greek man, who was caught at a checkpoint on the Egnatia Highway. The human trafficker had made ingenious modifications to his vehicle’s cargo area, constructing hidden compartments that were impossible to detect with the naked eye. It has not yet been determined whether the 31-year-old was acting alone or is part of an international trafficking network, so investigations continue in all directions.
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Collected 2,000 euros from each migrant
What is certain is that the 16 foreign nationals each paid the 31-year-old 2,000 euros for him to pick them up from an undetermined point along the Greek-Turkish border and transport them to central Thessaloniki. It’s clear that the perpetrator was not making this type of journey for the first time, according to experienced officers from the Immigration Management Department of the Thessaloniki Aliens Directorate. The checkpoint set up Monday evening was anything but random, as there was intelligence about his activities.
The 31-year-old’s mobile phone has been transferred to the Northern Greece Criminal Laboratories to identify his contacts with other suspicious individuals, while his background is being thoroughly investigated.
Criminal charges have been filed against him for illegal transportation and promotion of migrants within the country for profit, which resulted in life-threatening danger. He has already been brought before the competent Thessaloniki Prosecutor, from whom he requested and received time to prepare his defense.
