Austrian authorities intercepted a truck with 24 immigrants from Asian countries, who were victims of a fraudulent job offer in Romania and were now trying to reach Italy, the international press reported today.
According to the Austrian news agency APA, the migrants, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, were hiding among a shipment of bottles and pallets.
The vehicle was intercepted by the police very close to the border with Slovenia.
The driver, a 48-year-old man of Turkish nationality, was arrested for alleged human smuggling.
Initial investigations indicate that the migrants were offered a job in Romania through a recruitment agency, but it later turned out to be fraudulent. After spending time in this country, the intention of the migrants was to reach Italy.
A total of 54 refugees, the majority of Syrian nationality, were found on June 12 hiding in a truck some 50 kilometers from Vienna and, a few weeks earlier, another group of 35 people from Bangladesh, Nepal and Egypt were rescued with symptoms of hypothermia in a truck trailer in southern Austria.
In August 2015, 71 refugees were found dead in Austria in an abandoned refrigerated truck on a road near the Hungarian border.
Source: TSF
