Journalists Conducted an Experiment by Responding to Ads for Smuggling Illegal Immigrants 0 14

Journalists from the program "Nekā personīga" together with the State Border Guard conducted an experiment — they pretended to be drivers and responded to such an offer.

5,000 to 10,000 dollars — this is approximately how much it costs migrants to travel through Latvia to southern Europe. Local residents are also involved in this illegal business — intermediaries offer them "jobs" for several hundred dollars, promising easy earnings.

How the Scheme Works

Employees of the State Border Guard from Daugavpils reported that they create fake profiles and join groups like "Rabota Europe" or "Rabota Latvia," where they offer driver vacancies. The ads mention payment of up to 5,000 dollars for transportation, and conversations predominantly take place in Russian and Arabic.

The organizers do not hide that the work is illegal. One of them directly states in a voice message: "This is not an office job. People go, cross the border, and we wait for them to reach the point. Sometimes they are caught right before the crossing."

However, now the organizers have become more cautious — they require proof of reliability: to send geolocation, a photo with a date, a copy of the driver's license. Some even check videos from a specific location to ensure that the "newcomer" is indeed in Latvia.

Journalists' Experiment

Representatives of "Nekā personīga" arranged for the transportation of a group of 12 migrants for 5,000 dollars. According to the coordinates, they were to be picked up in the Rundene parish of the Ludza region, 20 km from the Belarusian border. But there was no one at the location — the organizer stopped responding. Later it turned out that about an hour before the journalists' arrival, a group of 10 people had been detained by border guards.

The next day, a similar group of 13 migrants was found and detained in the Robežnieki parish. Among them were citizens of Somalia and Syria, tired, wet, and showing signs of having spent a long time in the forest. One of the Syrians said he had lived in Morocco, then traveled through Moscow to Minsk and waited for several days to cross in the forest. He wanted to get to Spain, having learned about the "route" from an acquaintance.

How Much Smugglers Earn

Guides who accompany migrants across the border receive about 800 euros per person — more than drivers. However, they are only paid after the successful arrival of the group at the destination.

The network of transporters is multi-tiered:

• intermediaries look for drivers;
• managers coordinate the route and provide coordinates;
• main organizers — citizens of Arab countries posing as "tour agents."

Fighting Illegal Transportation

In 2023, the Saeima of Latvia made amendments to the Criminal Code, establishing stricter penalties for illegal transportation of people across the border. Previously, a driver who admitted guilt could only face a monetary fine. Since the changes came into effect, 87 criminal cases against transporters have been initiated in the Daugavpils administration.

One of the operational officers explained: "For those who offer such 'jobs', there is no risk — they face no threats. They often look for drivers who have had problems with drugs — former or current drug addicts, as well as people recently released from prison. For them, it's easy money."

Maris Pukinskis, head of the criminal investigations department of the Daugavpils administration of the State Border Guard, when asked "Has the number of transporters decreased after the penalties were tightened?" replied: "I wouldn’t say so. To some extent, it certainly deters, but what do these people know about responsibility? As practice shows, when transporters find out what punishment they face, they are often very surprised. Most do not even understand that this is a criminal offense. Unfortunately, as life shows, greed — the opportunity to make quick money — still drives people to commit crimes.

In the last year and a half, the prosecutor's office has charged 65 individuals for illegal transportation of people across the border. 60 of them have already been sentenced to prison terms: 10 people received about 2 years of imprisonment, a third of the convicted received 2-3 years, and the rest received more than 3 years of imprisonment.