Dangerous hiding place

Refugees huddled under a smuggler’s vehicle

Before the border controls, the people being smuggled were brought to Austria in their own boxes under the floor slab, which can be opened and closed hydraulically.(Bild: LPD NÖ/L.Topf)

Police officers discovered a secret hiding place in a smuggler's vehicle. Syrian citizens were being smuggled from Bulgaria to Austria in their own boxes under the floor panel of the van.

In Vösendorf in the district of Mödling (Lower Austria), a witness filed a complaint with the police. He had observed several people getting out of a white van. The man suspected that they were people being towed. 

A short time later, police officers were able to stop the alleged towing vehicle - a white van with Bulgarian license plates - along with the driver from Bulgaria and five Syrians between the ages of 16 and 50.

Secret hiding place discovered under car
The vehicle in question had a special secret hiding place: before the border controls, the people being towed were brought to Austria in their own boxes under the floor panel, which can be opened and closed again using hydraulic tools. After the checks, they were placed back in the luggage compartment of the vehicle.

(Bild: LPD NÖ/L.Topf)

Trafficker arrested
The driver confessed during his interrogation by the criminal investigators, the Lower Austria Provincial Police Directorate wrote in a press release. He had smuggled the five Syrian citizens from Bulgaria to Austria for a smuggling fee of 6000 euros per person. The man was sent to prison by order of the public prosecutor's office in Wiener Neustadt.