Serbia Arrests Alleged Leader of Migrant Smuggling Network
The Organized Crime Prosecution says a suspect accused of moving about 625 people toward Germany was arrested in Belgrade. The investigation was run jointly with prosecutors in Weiden.
A suspect accused of organizing migrant crossings into Hungary was arrested in Belgrade on August 5. The arrest was carried out on the order of the Organized Crime Prosecution, in an operation that ran the same day in both Serbia and Germany. He is charged with taking part in moving about 625 people along the Balkan route over the span of a year.
According to the investigation, his position in the network was not at the bottom of the chain. He operated from his hometown in Serbia and held a central role in organizing the transport.
Sombor as the handover point
The suspect’s job was to drive people to Sombor. There, investigators believe, he handed them off to other members of the network, which then allegedly organized their crossing from Serbia into Hungary.
He is suspected of taking part in at least 37 smuggling operations between June 2023 and June 2024, roughly one operation every ten nights, without a break, for a full year.
Where the route led
The network moved Syrian nationals into the European Union along two paths:
- from Serbia through Hungary
- from Bosnia and Herzegovina through Croatia
From there, people continued by car, van and truck, passing through Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria. Their final destination was Germany, though a smaller share went on to other countries in western Europe.
How much did the network charge?
The price per person ranged from 2,000 to 10,000 euros, depending on the route and the conditions of transport.
The prosecution has not released an estimate of total earnings. But multiplying the lowest price by the number of people moved sets a floor of at least 1.25 million euros. Using the top price instead pushes the figure as high as 6.25 million, the likely income range for one branch of the network over twelve months of work.
Who worked the case
In Serbia, the case was handled by the Organized Crime Prosecution and the Department for Combating Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, within the Service for Combating Organized Crime of the Criminal Police Directorate.
On the German side, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Weiden, the federal police station in Waidhaus and the Munich division of the federal police for combating crime were involved.
A joint investigation team was set up under Eurojust. Through that team, the two countries exchanged data on the network, which made it possible to prepare the arrests. The Western Balkans Criminal Justice Project also supported cooperation between Serbian and German authorities.
Operational coordination was led by the European Migrant Smuggling Centre at Europol. During the investigation, the centre worked on linking separate proceedings across countries and on setting priority targets. On the day of the operation, Europol also sent its own analysts into the field.
Sixth arrest in the same network
This is not the first hit against this group. Five members of the network were already arrested during 2025, in coordinated operations in Germany, the Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Belgrade arrest continues that string of actions, and the operation also targets remaining members in Germany and Serbia.
We have previously reported on similar activity along the same route, when two Syrian nationals were arrested in Belgrade on suspicion of human smuggling. The pattern repeats: the Serbian link in the chain does not transport people all the way to their destination, but brings them to the border and hands them off. That is why these investigations rarely wrap up in a single country.
The suspect is charged with a criminal offense related to organized crime. He is presumed innocent until a final verdict is reached.
