The police in Austria have uncovered a network of smugglers that, according to their statements, has illegally brought more than 700 people into the country.
Most of them made their way to Germany, as a police spokesman in St. Pölten in Lower Austria reported on Saturday.
Within a few days, 15 suspected smugglers were arrested who had transported people from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.
According to the investigators, the smuggling operation was broken up after a transport of 200 to 300 people with a total of 25 vehicles set off from the Serbian-Hungarian border on November 16. The route led through Slovakia and the Czech Republic to Lower Austria, where fourteen vehicles were seized. The drivers were recruited in Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan with monthly wages of up to 3,000 euros.
Of the hundreds of migrants, around a third applied for asylum in Austria, said police spokesman Johann Baumschlager of the German press agency.
The arrested people stated that they had planned to get to Germany themselves.
The other two thirds have probably traveled there, said Baumschlager.
This year more than 330 people were arrested in Austria under suspicion of being a smuggler.