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Last month, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, led an international operation focused on fighting cross-border crime and disrupting people smuggling networks in the Western Balkans and at selected border crossing points at EU’s Eastern land border.

The two-week-long operation was co-led by Hungary and carried out in the second half of June in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Several countries deployed liaison officers to a coordination centre set up by Frontex in the police headquarters in Szeged, a city in southern Hungary near the Serbian border, to coordinate their activities. Europol and Interpol granted direct access to their databases, shared expertise on stolen vehicles and analysis of gathered intelligence.

As a result, national police apprehended seven people smugglers, detected 546 irregular migrants and 667 people without valid travel documents. They also identified 24 stolen vehicles. In the course of this operation smuggled cigarettes, alcohol and drugs were detected along with illegal weapons and ammunition. The intelligence collected will help launch investigations of people suspected of involvement in migrant smuggling.

Known as Joint Action Day (JAD) Danube II, the operation was coordinated by Frontex under the umbrella of the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats (EMPACT). Danube II is one of many joint action days taking place this year, which collectively are called Operation Dragon 2017. They bring together Member States police forces, European agencies (Frontex and Europol), as well as Interpol, in the fight against organised crime.

In Danube II, participating organisations worked together to gather intelligence on people smuggling networks and enhance cooperation between authorities involved in a fight against cross border crime, especially in smuggling of people and stolen property.