09.58 – Thursday 16 May 2024
Yesterday, agents of the State Police on duty at the Brenner Public Security Commissariat, during a specific service to combat illegal immigration, arrested KH, a 50-year-old Belgian citizen of Turkish origin, for the crime of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
During a checkpoint at the Vipiteno motorway barrier, exiting the national territory, the officers noticed the approach of a 7-seater vehicle packed with people and, for this reason, decided to stop it to subject it to a more in-depth inspection.
The operators’ intuition proved to be correct as, inside the passenger compartment, in addition to the driver, 8 people were identified (of which 3 were minors, aged 9, 7 and 5 respectively), all Turkish citizens and part of 2 distinct family units, irregular on the national territory.
In consideration of what emerged during the check, the driver and passengers were taken to the police station to better clarify the circumstances of the journey. Here the adults in the group declared to the police officers that they had paid thousands of euros each for an exhausting journey from Istanbul with the final destination in Germany.
At the end of the Judicial Police activities, therefore, the driver-trafficker of human beings was arrested for aiding and abetting illegal immigration aggravated by the aim of profit, and proceeded to seize the vehicle used for the transport of illegal immigrants, the cell phone of the arrested person and other useful documentation for the continuation of the investigations. After having taken the arrested person to the prison in Bolzano at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Police Officers entrusted the passengers to an Association which operates in the Brenner Pass and which provides assistance, inviting them to present themselves at the Immigration Office of the Bolzano Police Headquarters to define their position on the national territory.
“This type of Security Police activity to combat human trafficking and illegal immigration is aimed at preventing innocent victims of unscrupulous traffickers from being subjected to deprivations of liberty and harassment of all kinds, becoming bargaining chips for criminal organizations – highlighted the Police Commissioner of the Province of Bolzano Paolo Sartori – In this case a people trafficker, probably a pawn of a much larger and more structured criminal organization operating on an international scale, was arrested. It will now be a matter of reconstructing what happened and identifying networks and connivances that favor illicit trafficking.”
