Over 130 human trafficking suspects arrested in police operation done throughout Europe

Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY
·1 min read
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European police arrested more than 130 people suspected of being involved in human trafficking and identified more than 130 possible victims in an operation that spanned 22 countries, authorities announced.

In a joint operation with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, also known as Europol, European border agency Frontex and International Criminal Police Organization officers in 22 countries made the arrests from June 6 to June 13, Europol said in a news release Tuesday.

Europol said almost 22,500 officers took part in the operation at "European sea, land, and air borders, with an additional focus on heavily (utilized) routes into Europe." In total, nearly 1 million people were checked by authorities in 13,500 locations.

In addition to the arrests, authorities said they identified 60 suspects and 220 forged documents. Of the 130 possible victims of human trafficking identified, Europol said more than a dozen were minors.

Countries that were part of the operation included the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine.

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News of the operations comes the same day as police in the U.K. and other European countries announced the arrest of people in multiple countries suspected of smuggling migrants to Britain on small boats.

In a statement, the Britain’s National Crime Agency said the operation targeted "criminal networks suspected of using small boats to smuggle thousands of people into the U.K." French judicial authorities said the operation targeted a "major organized crime group" suspected of facilitating human smuggling across the English Channel from France to Britain.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: European police arrested over 130 suspects in human trafficking sting