In just two days, the Karlovac police department apprehended five foreign smugglers in the area of Karlovac County. One of them attempted to escape from a burning vehicle while trying to flee after being stopped for smuggling foreign nationals. Despite causing damage to a police vehicle, the driver was swiftly captured.

Four separate criminal investigations have been launched involving citizens from Georgia, Poland, Kazakhstan with residence permits in Germany and Italy. The investigations were initiated due to suspicions that these foreign nationals had entered, moved, and resided in Croatia illegally. It was discovered that all of them had illegally crossed the Croatian border and expressed their intentions to apply for international protection.

Upon completion of the criminal investigations, the police filed charges with the state attorney’s office. It was determined that the suspects had transported foreign nationals to their final destination for a pre-arranged sum of money, purely out of self-interest.