Leipzig, Germany – An arrest warrant has been issued in Germany for the driver of a lorry after 31 migrants were found in the back of the vehicle during a check at the Czech-German border, the prosecutors said on Thursday.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Dresden confirmed that the 57-year-old was facing arrest but did not give further details of the incident, noting that investigations were ongoing.
The refrigerated lorry had been bound for Germany when it was stopped on Tuesday evening.
Police and customs officers found 31 men aged between 18 and 47 in the container, lying on melon crates with little space between them and the ceiling.
German federal police believe the men came from Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
People smugglers have frequently hidden migrants in heavy goods vehicles to transport them across Europe, sometimes with fatal consequences.
In Austria in 2015, 71 bodies were found in the back of a sealed lorry that had come from Hungary.
In 2019, 39 Vietnamese were discovered dead in a refrigerated lorry in Britain after having been smuggled into the country from Belgium.
(dpa/NAN)
