An Indian, Harvinder Singh, in his bid to travel abroad, paid an agent Rs 12 lakh to settle him in a western European country. However, to his utter chagrin, Singh was instead put on a “donkey route”, which had him travel through challenging weather conditions in Serbia, walk for miles to evade checkposts and eventually end up in a refugee camp in Germany.
The Times of India reports that the agents promised him asylum in Germany. However, after five months in detention, he was deported to Delhi on March 20. He was one of the hundreds of Asians put on this “Balkan route”. The route involves illegal entry into European nations through Serbia.
However, Serbia stopped visa-free travel for Indians on January 1, 2023. It withdrew the existing arrangement of visa-free entry for all Indian passport holders and even for staying in the country for up to 30 days.
The move was to fulfil the requirements of the EU visa policy and control irregular migrants.
The Serbian route was used to send migrants to countries like Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. But in June 2023, Europol coordinated with law enforcement agents in Germany, Romania and Serbia to dismantle an organized crime group that had smuggled hundreds of migrants to Germany.
In coordinated raids involving 200 officers, the suspects were held in Germany, and nine were caught in Romania. The raids led to the seizure of posh cars, cash, and other valuables.
The investigation was the result of the arrest of several migrants on German territory. They had been smuggled to Germany via Serbia and Romania on the so-called Balkan route.
The migrants were smuggled in lorries for a sum of about 4000 Euros. While there, they had to hide among the cargo for several days in inhumane conditions. Then, they had to walk several miles to evade official border checkpoints.
