The Central Police Investigation Bureau of Poland has arrested four Polish nationals on suspicion of organizing the illegal transportation of migrants from Belarus to Western European countries.

According to RMF FM, police officers from the Lublin Voivodeship Police Department are investigating the activities of an international criminal group. Its members were organizing illegal migrants to cross the Belarusian-Polish border and continue their journey, typically to Germany.

The migrants were transported in rented cars, each time different but always with tinted rear windows. The journey to Western Europe cost migrants at least a thousand zlotys per person. The group had been operating for at least two months.

On Wednesday, officers from the Central Police Investigation Bureau of Poland conducted an operation in the Lublin Voivodeship and Warsaw. Four Polish individuals, aged 19 to 33, were arrested. A fifth man was detained for possession of mephedrone. Police also seized cannabis and two knuckle-dusters.

Two of the detainees may have ties to a pseudo-fan community of one of the sports clubs in Lublin.

Four of the arrested individuals have been charged with participation and leadership in an organized criminal group, as well as organizing illegal border crossings. Three of them also face drug possession charges. The detainees have been remanded in custody for three months.

Investigators emphasize that the case is ongoing, and further arrests are not excluded.