Caught in Carinthia

Child in the car: how the Russian trafficking mafia works

The young defendant received two and a half years in prison.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

Not a day goes by without traffickers carrying illegal immigrants being stopped in Austria. Only the drivers are ever caught. But who is behind these professionally organized smuggling trips? The trail leads to Russians with Arab roots, as a courier arrested in Carinthia reveals.

Human lives count for nothing to the trafficking bosses. Their "passengers" pay a lot of money to be taken to Central Europe and usually have to make the journey in terrible conditions, locked up and crammed together. Young men whose families are in need are usually recruited as drivers for these transports. "The pay is good and my mom has problems," says a 27-year-old at the trial at Klagenfurt Regional Court. And he ends up saying a lot more.