INTERPOL calls for public’s help in operation targeting people smugglers
23 June 2016
LYON, France – An INTERPOL operation targeting the criminal networks behind people smuggling, which has already led to 26 arrests, is now calling on the public’s help to locate and bring the remaining fugitives to justice.
Operation Infra (International Fugitive Round Up and Arrest) Hydra, focusing on 180 fugitives wanted by 31 countries, has also resulted in the positive location of a further 31 individuals.
During the operational phase (9 – 13 May), 28 specialized fugitive and immigration officers from 24 countries worked alongside each other at the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France to directly exchange information, follow up leads and coordinate arrests around the world.
Members of the public are now being asked to provide information on the internationally-wanted fugitives with 10 Operation Hydra targets specifically highlighted as part of the appeal, including:
-Mariana Crucerescu, convicted of heading a Romanian organized crime group which illegally smuggled individuals through Hungarian and Austrian border points at a cost of up to EUR 3,000 per person;
-Kolyo Georgiev Kolev is suspected of illegally transporting nine Afghan nationals from Bulgaria into Austria. After the van in which they were travelling overturned on a motorway in Hungary, killing two of the migrants, Kolev and a second man fled the scene.
-Van Vinh Nguyen, a suspected member of an organized crime network which smuggled and housed Vietnamese nationals across three European countries;
-Jan Abdullah, an Afghan national, who is accused of setting up an organized crime group to traffic migrants and of arranging transportation, fake documents and ‘how to’ guides on illegally crossing borders.
-Azerbaijan national Tajeddin Aliyev, the former head of passenger control at the international airport in Baku, who allegedly provided counterfeit airline tickets;
Link: http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News/2016/N2016-085
Photos: http://www.interpol.int/layout/set/gallery/Media/Images/News/2016/2016-085/INFRA-HYDRA-targets
