Greek police crack down on human smuggling ring exploiting migrants' desperation for Eu entry

Shafaq News/ Greek police have arrested six people they say are members of a large human smuggling ring that extorted money from migrants to help them cross into neighboring Albania and travel to EU countries in the North.

The police said in a statement issued last night that the six suspects, a Syrian, A Palestinian and four Iraqis, were arrested on Saturday in a village less than 10 kilometers from the Albanian border. Seven more gang members were arrested in the same area on September 28, at which time 11 migrants were found detained in abandoned huts and military posts.

The police said at the time that the smugglers, who had already collected more than 1,000 euros (about 1,100 dollars) from each migrant to help them cross into Albania, detained them and demanded an additional 1,500 euros (1,640 dollars). According to the police, the smugglers tortured the migrants, videotaped the torture sessions and sent the footage to relatives of the victims in the Middle East and South Asia. And this time, no migrants were found with the smugglers, The Associated Press reported.

According to the police, they are looking for seven other members of the gang who are still at large.