Croatian police officers arrested a 27-year-old citizen of Belgium and Russia, as well as two other Belgian citizens on suspicion of human smuggling and aiding and abetting a crime, the Bjelovar-based police administration announced today. All three suspects have been in custody since Tuesday night, they added.
Croatian police officers tried to stop a van with Belgian license plates in the early morning hours of Monday in the village of Novoseljani near Bjelovar. The driver did not stop the vehicle, but jumped out of the vehicle in slow motion and fled. Police later found out that he was transporting several foreign citizens in the van, the Bjelovar-Bilogora Police Administration announced on its website.
Police later on Monday arrested a 27-year-old citizen of Belgium and Russia who was suspected of human trafficking, later they also arrested a 26- and 38-year-old Belgian citizens suspected of aiding the 27-year-old.
The people they found in the van were detained at the police station in Bjelovar, where they are establishing their identity and the way to enter Croatia, they wrote.