European police target gang smuggling people from Iraq via Russia/Belarus

Twenty-one people have been arrested in a European police operation that targeted a criminal network smuggling migrants from Iraq to the European Union via Belarus and Russia, Europol said on Thursday.

Twenty-one people have been arrested in a European police operation that targeted a criminal network smuggling migrants from Iraq to the European Union via Belarus and Russia, Europol said on Thursday. Those arrested were mainly Egyptian, Iraqi and Syrian nationals, with 15 of the arrests made in Poland, the police body said.

"The criminal network smuggled the migrants from Iraq via Russia and Belarus to the EU, the main final destination countries were Germany and the United Kingdom," added Europol, whose headquarters are in The Hague. Earlier this week five migrants, including a child, died trying to cross the English Channel from France, and many European governments, including Britain, have vowed to do more to tackle illegal immigration.

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