In the investigation into the large-scale human smuggling by two men in Eindhoven, the investigating authorities have found a notebook that served as records. In it is described exactly which of the many thousands of Syrians and where exactly were brought from their homeland to our country and other parts of Europe.

It also noted the money earned per smuggled compatriot.

Reliable sources surrounding the investigation confirm to De Telegraaf that "rock-solid evidence against the men has been found" with this. Suspected cousins Zeiad (35) and Khalid D. (26), in whose home the said writing with Arabic texts was found, have since made a confession during interrogations by investigators.

Seasonal employment

Witnesses testified that the suspects viewed their own practices as seasonal labor. "In the winter it was too cold on the boats going to the ports in Turkey and Greece, so the smugglers mainly chose the summer period to bring people over from Syria."

Zeiad, alleged to be the mastermind behind the human smuggling, stated to investigators that he himself had come to our country as a refugee in the past and that he therefore wanted to help his fellow countrymen in need. "My client received an expense allowance per person for this," said his lawyer Françoise Landerloo.

"The fact that that notebook was found at his home is not clever, of course, but that's all I want to say about it," Landerloo said. According to his counsel Wouter Smeets, Khalid D. confessed to having smuggled refugees as a paid courier from Budapest and Vienna to the Netherlands.

The remand of the two cousins was extended by 90 days yesterday by the Zwolle District Court. In this case, a third suspect, Mohammed A., has now been arrested in Germany. He is alleged to have been responsible for the large-scale smuggling of Syrians to our eastern neighbors.