Belgrade Police Arrest Two Syrians in Migrant Smuggling Case
Serbian police said A.B. (1994) and F.B. (1994) were arrested on an Interpol Germany warrant, suspected of belonging to a network that smuggled more than 900 people into the EU.
Officers from the Interior Ministry arrested two Syrian nationals in Belgrade on suspicion of smuggling migrants into European Union countries. The two men, identified as A. B. (1994) and F. B. (1994), were detained under an international warrant issued by Interpol Germany, the ministry announced on Wednesday morning.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the arrests followed a months long joint international investigation launched by German police, with support from Europol and Eurojust. According to the ministry, the operation involved:
- the Criminal Police Directorate
- the Service for Combating Organized Crime
- the Belgrade Police Directorate’s Search Department
The operation was coordinated with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime in Belgrade.
Germany makes an arrest the same day
The Belgrade arrests were not an isolated action. Dacic said German police moved in parallel.
The same day, in connection with this joint international investigation, another member of the organized crime group was arrested on German territory, and several apartments and other premises used by the suspects were searched at multiple locations
Searches were carried out at several addresses that, according to police, were used by the suspects. The ministry did not disclose what, if anything, was found.
How did the two networks operate?
According to German police, two connected Syrian criminal networks ran two separate routes at the same time. One organized the transfer of large groups of irregular migrants from Libya, via the island of Lampedusa, to Germany. The other moved people along the Western Balkan route, also toward Germany and other European countries.
Together, investigators suspect, the two networks moved more than 900 people into the European Union. In both cases, the motive was financial gain.
That overlap is part of why the investigation ran on several fronts at once. Mediterranean and overland smuggling routes are usually investigated separately, since different groups typically control each one. In this case, German police found that the same core group ran both.
Fifth wave of arrests since last year
This is not the first arrest in the case. During 2025, five senior members of the same organized crime group were arrested in coordinated actions in Germany, the Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Belgrade has become the fourth country where the investigation has produced a result, and the two men arrested on Wednesday are, by the ministry’s account, the remaining part of the structure that had evaded earlier actions.
Serbian police acting quickly on multiple international warrants is not new. We reported earlier on a day when Serbian authorities carried out two arrests in a single day at the request of foreign judicial bodies.
Neither of the two men has been convicted. They are charged with smuggling a large number of irregular migrants, and guilt will be determined by the court that hears the case.
What happens next
Germany is seeking both men, and extradition proceedings have been launched.
Extradition proceedings are under way for the arrested Syrian nationals A.B. and F.B. to Germany
If extradition is approved, the two will stand trial before German courts, alongside other members of the group arrested last year and this year.
