The Hungarian authorities requested pre-trial detention for a Syrian man based in Sweden who is suspected of having run a hawala system that facilitated people smuggling on the Serbia-Hungary border.
The suspect was a member of a crime ring operating on the Serbian side of the border tasked with paying drivers to transport illegal migrants through the informal money transfer system, the Csongrád-Csanad County prosecution office said on Wednesday.
Migrants would deposit the 1,500-3,000 euro fee per person before being transported from the Serbian border to the Austrian one. Afterwards, drivers would contact the suspect with an encrypted code via an app, and a matching amount of money would be transferred in a Budapest cafe or market to the smugglers.
The Syrian is suspected of having been a member of the organisation in 2020-2021, coordinating money transfers related to people smuggling throughout Europe.
Investigators have also detained a Syrian who is a suspected accomplice.
Given the risk of escape, prosecutors have lodged a request for the prime suspect to be kept in detention.
As we wrote yesterday, Asian refugees found in a cargo truck in Hungary, details HERE.