The military police have arrested two Syrians on suspicion of large-scale human smuggling into the Netherlands. The 35-year-old prime suspect and his 26-year-old cousin are allegedly responsible for smuggling hundreds of refugees from Italy, Greece, Austria and Hungary.

The men were operating out of Eindhoven. There, the military police also detained a female relative of the two. However, she was released last Sunday; according to the prosecutor's office, "pending further results of the investigation." The woman allegedly kept cash for the two men. Earlier this month, a 27-year-old Syrian accomplice was arrested in Budapest.

This is the first time a smuggling network operating from the Netherlands has been dismantled. The military police say they have indications that there are more such networks in our country.

The smuggling began in Turkey, where recruiters sought Syrian refugees to cross by boat to Greece or Italy. Those paid 7,000 euros in advance. The trip by passenger car or van from Italy cost another 700 euros. Part of that fare had to be paid at the beginning of the trip; the remainder upon arrival. In recent months the men doubled their prices because of the sharp increase in the number of refugees.

The investigation into the men, led by the National Public Prosecutor's Office, began a year ago. The investigators cooperated with authorities in Hungary, Germany, Austria and Italy, among others, and with Europol.The 35-year-old Syrian, himself a refugee with residency status, directed the network. He organized the transports and arranged cars and drivers. Via Turkey, the refugees were taken to "assembly points" in Athens, Budapest, Vienna and Milan.

There again, employees were standing by. Once they had a group of refugees together who wanted to ride with them to the Netherlands, the recruiters called the prime suspect.

Depending on the size of the group, the man then sent a car or van to the assembly site. These were driven by Dutch drivers. They often used rental cars, among others, to stay out of sight of the police.

The drivers dropped the refugees off in the Netherlands, in different places each time. Sometimes the refugees then traveled on to Sweden, Denmark or northern Germany. The main suspect arranged dozens of transports; lately, according to the prosecution, almost daily. These involved hundreds of refugees. As far as known, none of them died, the military police said.

The trade was lucrative. The main suspect earned at least 60,000 to 120,000 euros a year from it. In recent weeks, the flow of refugees swelled so much that the man was collecting about 20,000 euros per week. The drivers who smuggled the refugees into the Netherlands received at most 100 euros per trip for this.The military police had the prime suspect in their sights for at least a year. The service got the first indications of the existence of the smuggling network last year during a mobile border control. After that, phone taps and surveillance provided more evidence.

Smuggling came to a halt last winter because of the cold weather. In the spring, the network picked up again.

Several European countries are cooperating in breaking up smuggling networks, says Security and Justice Minister Van der Steur. "We started that cooperation several months ago, for example with Italy. This morning's arrests show that it is a success."

Schiphol

The military police say they try to track down human smugglers in many ways: through checks at Schiphol Airport and Eindhoven Airport, along highways in the border region and on international trains.

Yesterday it was announced that a special team is being set up to roll up such networks.