Brussels: Belgian police have dismantled a people smuggling network linked to the EU migrant crisis and arrested four people, the federal force announced on Tuesday.
On September 7, police searched nine addresses: seven in Brussels, one each in the towns of Leuven and Liege, seizing fake identity documents, hardware, a handgun and ammunition.
Ten people were detained, with four charged after a hearing before a judge. Six others were released.
A investigation was launched in 2015 after an unusually high number of Iraqi asylum-seekers came to Belgium and officers noticed an "obvious increase in the use of fake documents", said a police statement.
The probe found that the network smuggled people from Iraq to Belgium, initially on flights, but "changed tactics" after the massive influx of refugees into Greece and Turkey, according to a statement. It then smuggled people on to trucks via the Balkans route.
The migrants paid between $15,000 and $20,000 for the gang's help in assembling fake documents and travelling by air, the statement said, and $5,000 to travel by road.
Once in Belgium, the migrants stayed in apartments or houses run by gang members and were given new identity documents to start the process of requesting asylum.
"During the investigation, we were able to identify and find several victims," the police said.
Uncovering and dismantling people smuggling networks is a major part of the European Union's response to the worst migration crisis since World War II.
