Marienberg (dpa/sn) - In just a few hours, federal police and customs officials caught four smugglers and 20 people who had entered the country illegally on the border with the Czech Republic. As the federal police announced on Thursday, the four companions in the car of a 44-year-old, which officials checked on the federal highway 174 near Marienberg in the Ore Mountains on Wednesday afternoon, had no ID cards.
In another car, which was heading towards Chemnitz and which appeared suspicious to the investigators, three people without documents were sitting next to the 47-year-old driver. Only the 59-year-old driver was in a third vehicle. However, when asked by the police, he confirmed that he had already dropped off his five companions. Officials discovered them in an adjacent wooded area.
Just a few hours later, the emergency services also found four other occupants without ID on the B174 in the car of a 50-year-old. Four other undocumented people were walking along the main road.
The drivers of the vehicles were temporarily arrested for smuggling in foreigners and were released after paying a sum of money. The 16 men and a six-year-old child were taken to the initial reception center in Chemnitz after they had applied for asylum. Three young people aged 13, 15 and 15 were handed over to a care center for minors.
