Nigerien authorities reported that they have dismantled a human trafficking network in West Africa, resulting in about 20 arrests in the capital Niamey and in Maradi, the country's second-largest city. In total, more than 540 suspected traffickers have been arrested in the country since 2019.
Following the deaths of nine migrants headed towards the Canary Islands in March 2021, two people have each been sentenced to nine years in prison. Two young children were among those who died.
European Union interior ministers discussed border security and asylum at a meeting in Lithuania. The EU home affairs commissioner urged preemptive action outside the bloc and condemned the policy of pushbacks.
A Belgian court sentenced a Vietnamese man to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after convicting him of being the ringleader in the trafficking of 39 migrants found dead in a lorry.
A group suspected of running a multi-million-euro smuggling ring has been arrested in Poland. The suspects are reported to be from Poland, Iraq, Georgia, Tunisia, Syria and Ukraine.
Lebanon is suffering from one of the worst economic crises the world has ever witnessed, forcing many of its citizens to seek a better life abroad. Some are joining other migrants to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.
Europol announced that 24 suspects have been arrested for smuggling migrants, drugs and stolen goods into and through Europe.
Hungarian police have fired several gunshots at a truck carrying about 30 hidden passengers presumed to be irregular migrants. The vehicle drove through a checkpoint at the country's border with Austria without stopping when police tried to intervene.
A van transporting 41 migrants was discovered by police in North Macedonia on Friday. The migrants are reported to be from Cuba and India.
Three men accused of smuggling migrants across the Channel have received jail sentences of one to four years, report French media. Meanwhile, the British and French approach to the migration situation has been criticized by Nobel Prize for Literature winner Abdulrazak Gurnah.
The Syrians, Lebanese, and Egyptian migrants had planned to reach Germany after being dropped off in Austria, police said. Hundreds of migrants paid up to €5,000 each ($5,600) for the ride.
Hundreds of migrants are still being intercepted daily along the Poland-Belarus border while trying to reach the European Union. Many of the smugglers meanwhile have been found to be residing in Germany.