China News Agency, Berlin, July 15 (Reporter Peng Dawei) According to German media reports, the German Federal Police and customs officers intercepted a refrigerated truck on the A17 highway near the Czech border on the evening of the 14th local time. Thirty-one illegal immigrants were hidden in the cargo compartment of the car. The Dresden prosecutor on the 15th has issued an arrest warrant to the truck driver suspected of human trafficking.
German "Daily News" reported online that German customs and police intercepted a refrigerated truck loaded with large amounts of watermelon on the A17 highway in the Saxony state in eastern Germany on the evening of the 14th. During the search, the authorities found that 31 male illegal immigrants were hidden in the cargo box where the fruit boxes were placed, aged between 18 and 47. Due to lack of safety measures on the way, five of them were injured when they were found.
The 31 illegal immigrants found were from Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. China Deutsche Broadcasting Corporation reported that the illegal immigrants were lying on a carton filled with watermelons, and they were trembling with cold. They are temporarily taken to an office of the German Federal Police for follow-up. At present, the prosecution has issued an arrest warrant against the 57-year-old truck driver for alleged human trafficking.
According to German media reports, the current preliminary information shows that the Turkish truck driver hid the illegal immigrants in the refrigerated truck compartment he was driving in Hungary. Currently, the authorities are investigating the snakeheads suspected of operating behind the scenes of the case.
In recent years, snakeheads have used similar methods to transport illegal immigrants to EU countries frequently, causing many tragedies. In August 2015, 71 illegal immigrants hid in a refrigerated truck trying to travel from Hungary to Austria, and all died after suffocation. In October 2019, in the British Essex truck incident, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese illegal immigrants were found inside the refrigerated truck. (Finish)