{"id":39465,"date":"2024-06-07T16:31:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T14:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.riseproject.ro\/?p=39465"},"modified":"2025-03-24T10:31:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T08:31:43","slug":"the-migrant-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riseproject.ro\/en\/the-migrant-business\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Migrant” business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A group of 27 migrants caught by the Border Police while trying to cross the border in the Arad area. Source: Mediafax Photo<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the past six months, Rise reporters have infiltrated the underground world of an industry that, for the past two years, has been making hundreds of millions of euros by trafficking Asian citizens seeking a better life in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2022, Romania has allowed 100,000 foreign workers to enter the country annually for employment. However, the mechanisms facilitating their arrival have already been deeply corrupted. Many end up homeless, while others are smuggled in trucks by traffickers and transported to other European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We interviewed victims and heard harrowing stories, investigated the companies involved in this illicit trade, and obtained testimonies from insiders. Our findings revealed that Romania hosts organized crime networks that include former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, businesspeople with criminal records, and even politicians. This web of interests and criminal groups extends beyond Romania\u2019s borders, supplying multinational companies with illegally trafficked foreign workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent days, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) carried out several raids and arrests in Cara\u0219-Severin and Timi\u0219 counties. According to prosecutors, the investigation targets the illegal introduction of foreign workers\u2014primarily from Pakistan and Bangladesh\u2014into Romania under the guise of work visas, with the real intention of facilitating their passage into the Schengen Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those detained by DIICOT is a former officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who prosecutors accused of being one of the leaders of the investigated groups. Just two months ago, this same former officer\u2014who had served in the secret intelligence unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (DGIPI, also known as “2.15”)\u2014gave us an extensive interview, in which he denounced the very mafia-like practices that he is now being accused of by prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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