The most profitable criminal interest in Europe

A driver with his own car needed to carry tourists in southern Europe – sounds like an attractive, well -paid job offer. On the spot, however, it turns out that it is not about the transport of tourists, but smuggling migrants from the Balkans to Western Europe. The details of this criminal practice were shown in “Supervisor” by Jakub Stachowiak and Sebastian Klauziński.

At first glance, it looks like a regular job offer. The driver, by his own car, is to transport tourists from the Balkans further to Europe. At least that's what a man from the announcement assures. The alleged employer pays even accommodation.

– These offers look like ordinary job offers, while then many warning lights appear. Actually, we do not see anyone from this “company” that allegedly hire us, we communicate only through encrypted messengers – indicates Sebastian Klauziński, co -author of the report.

Drivers looking for earnings become participants of people smuggling. Journalists of “Supervisor” – Jakub Stachowiak and Sebastian Klauziński responded to one of such ads. Details of the criminal practice were shown in the report “Shadow Trail. How we became smugglers of people”.

Watch on TVN24 Plus: Shadow trail. How did we become smugglers of people

– There are always customers and we always have a job. And even now slowly more orders, because the season begins – we hear from one of the people participating in the procedure. When asked when you can start, she replies: ever.

Journalists went to Zagreb – the informal capital of smuggling people from Asia and Africa.

– We receive these people from a place marked with a pine. It is not that this route, which we are to overcome with alleged tourists, is, for example, the shortest route, which we will get into navigation. Only suddenly our guardian from the company gives us dozens of pins, which lead along side roads – says Sebastian Klauziński.

Migrants who want to reach Western Europe On the Balkan trail, they first come to Bosnia or Serbia, because they do not need visas to these countries. From there through Croatia and Slovenia They try to get further.

The scale of people's smuggling is impossible to estimate

– They can pay sections, from one country to another, or they can also pay for all the way, where the price can be up to EUR 12-14 thousand – says Bojan Iršič from the Police Headquarters in Slovenia.

– It has already become a business in which you can even buy it, as if it did not sound, all inclusive – comments Szymon Białek, the Consul of the Republic of Poland in Lublana.

As the expert explains, people smugglers usually come from two groups.

– On the one hand, it is a local community living in border areas, which knows the border guards very well, knows the area, knows when and where people can be transferred, and on the other hand they are international groups – indicates Dr. Robert Rydzewski from the Department of Cultural Anthropology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

Only in 2024 and only in Slovenia about three thousand migrants and 500 drivers were detained. The real scale of people's smuggling is virtually impossible to estimate.

– offers are still presented naive – which I will emphasize – drivers who are to drive “tourists”. I dare say that now the weather will be favorable for this trail to be filled with more people, because in a moment there will be holidays and in the mass of tourists it will be easier to hide a car that transports migrants – forecasts Jakub Stachowiak.

A cheated driver from Poznań is now waiting for a sentence

So -called Drugs and cigarettes were previously smuggled along the Balkan trail, but people's metastasis is more profitable for criminals. – The metastasis of illegal immigrants is currently the most profitable illegal interest in Europe – says Szymon Białek.

Maciej Skibicki, a taxi driver from Poznań, responded to an offer from the Internet last fall. His first task was to transport tourists from Croatia to Italian.

– He told me that they are a great company, that they have buses, buses and drivers with passenger cars like me. And he said that after the first course, if I like it, then I will get a contract – he says.

He adds that he was assured that the group he is to transport is not migrants, but “people looking for quick transport”. With five passengers, he left Zagreb along side roads. In Slovenia, the police detained them. When it turned out that passengers did not have passports, the Pole was detained and went to custody, where he was waiting for the sentence.

– If I devoted to say 15, 10 minutes more to verify what he showed and told me, maybe it wouldn't happen. Well, but I try not to blame, just go to action more, what we can do to help him – says Kajetan Skibicki, son of Maciej.

As the Polish consul in Slovenia indicates, people like Maciej Skibicki in Slovenian prisons are arriving. – If you are included in Slovenia and take people with illegal status in the car, you are guilty. You can only ask for a mild punishment in court – says Szymon Białek.

Slovenian law provides for a penalty of three to even 12 years in prison.

– At the moment we can safely say that several dozen Poles are serving penalties in Slovenia. There are special goals for drivers caught in Slovenia. These are Serbs, Romanians – indicates Jarosław Jabrzyk, editor -in -chief of “Superwizjer”.

When preparing a report, the authors did not transport migrants on any route.