A total sentence of 252 years was imposed by the Three-member Court of Criminal Appeal of Thessaloniki on two men, of Iraqi origin, who were convicted for a triple-digit number of cases illegal immigration.
The two young men, approximately 24 years old, were found guilty of the felony of simple cooperation in facilitating the transfer of citizens of third countries, for profit, from which a danger to a person may arise, consecutively and continuously and for the charge of the gang (misdemeanor ).
Specifically, the former was found guilty of a total of ten cases of trafficking involving 67 irregular immigrants and was sentenced to 143 years in prison (20 years suspended). The second defendant was convicted of six counts of trafficking involving 51 cases of irregular migrants and the judges sentenced him to 109 years in prison (20 years suspended). None of the two were given mitigating circumstances, while it was decided that their sentence would not have a deterrent effect until the trial of the case in the second degree and thus they were sent to prison.
According to the indictment, her action gang in which the two defendants had a “supporting” but decisive role, began on January 13, 2022, about a week before the release of the first defendant serving time for a similar conviction.
The two men, who claim they met in their country as they come from the same city, were allegedly preparing the vehicles that the driver-traffickers would use to transport migrants arriving in Evro from Turkey, to Thessaloniki and other cities of the country.
Their action had not gone unnoticed by the experienced police officers of the Directorate of Aliens of Thessaloniki, who for a very long time began to follow them discreetly and collect evidence and photographic material which depicts them doing business and having close contacts with people who involved in cases of illegal transportation.
According to the statements of police officers who participated in the investigation of the case, more than 15 people are estimated to have been members of the specific gang that operated with a clear hierarchy and shared roles, while through observation they managed to ascertain exactly the role that the specific Iraqis had and to proceed and in other arrests.
The “leadership” of the organization seems to have assigned the two defendants the responsibility for the care and preparation of the vehicles that they would use for the trafficking of illegal immigrants and also for erasing the traces from the cars immediately after committing their acts. In particular, from the research of EL.AS. it emerged that the two young men had undertaken, for a fee, to prepare the vehicles and ensure they were in perfect mechanical condition so that they could travel up to 3,000 kilometers with “stacked” people even in the luggage compartment. In addition, once the gang drivers completed the transport, they were given the cars to wash and prepare them for the next “route”.
As for the vehicles they used to transport irregular migrants, they were mostly ghost carsas experienced police officers describe them, as they brought foreign license plates (Austria, Germany, etc.) which did not occur to any owner, but also stolen cars which were quickly unloaded after the immigrants were transported.
Some of the specific cars had been identified by the police during the investigation, when they saw the “drivers” of the organization leaving the homes of the two defendants and getting into them. In fact, there were many cases where the specific vehicles were detected by EL.AS. to move and a manhunt ensued when they were found to be transporting irregular migrants, with traffickers being arrested. One of these cases proved to be decisive for the conviction of the two defendants, since dozens of calls to a 24-year-old Iraqi were found on the mobile phone of a trafficker, and thus the relationship between them was “tied”.
In their apologies, the two youths denied the accusations attributed to them with the first claiming that he had only taken one of the cars to fix it as he had the necessary knowledge and did not know that it was being used for illegal activities.
The second defendant stated that he came to Greece in 2017 and worked in supermarkets in Athens and Thessaloniki, while he in turn denied the accusations. “I know nothing about cars, about people and about traffickers. I have no connection, I am not in the EL.AS photos. Since I got out of prison in 2022 I haven’t done anything illegal.”he said, without convincing the judges.
The prosecutor of the seat also proposed the conviction of the two defendants, stressing, among other things, in his speech, that there is no doubt about their guilt and that the defendants accepted the risk and acted in order to have a financial benefit.
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