From 13 to 23 June 2025, Frontex coordinated EMPACT Joint Action Day (JAD) Danube, bringing together border and law enforcement Agencies from Austria, 12 other EU Member States, as well as Europol, Eurojust, and INTERPOL.
The focus: tackling migrant smuggling, human trafficking, and document fraud across Central and South-Eastern Europe.
During the operation, Frontex Standing Corps officers worked side by side with national police, border guards and customs officers to carry out border checks and disrupt organised criminal networks.
Their concerted efforts prove that the secret to efficiency lies in close cooperation. In that week alone:
* 70 people smugglers were arrested,
* 3 cases of trafficking in human beings were identified,
* 97 false documents and 39 stolen vehicles were detected,
* Nearly $2 million USD was seized in cash.
Interpol also confirmed that around 15 wanted persons were also detained on the basis of Interpol-issued alerts. On top of all that, a check run in Interpol Stolen Motor Vehicle (SMV) database returned 5 hits.
To support the exchange of information among the participants and to manage investigations into people smuggling and trafficking in human beings, a coordination centre was set up in Vienna. Europol also deployed its Virtual Command Post to facilitate information exchange between the participant countries and agencies.
This JAD “Danube” was another step towards a safer Europe. A step taken by countries, authorities, and individual officers who joined forces to pursue the same goal: fighting against international crime.
