Gardaí took part in the worldwide campaign to combat human trafficking last month, leading to the arrest of two suspected traffickers at Dublin Airport.
Operation Liberterra II, which was orchestrated by Interpol, was the largest-ever operation targeting human trafficking and migrant smuggling in history and involved 116 countries.
It co-ordinated police raids, border checks and the monitoring of passenger flights on a global scale. Over 24,000 flights were monitored and eight million passenger checks were carried out by law enforcement.
This led to over 2,500 arrests of which 850 resulted in human trafficking or migrant smuggling charges.
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As part of its contribution, An Garda Síochána operated human trafficking checkpoints at Dublin Airport between September 29th and October 4th.
“The main aim of this operation was to identify and dismantle criminal organisations involved in the smuggling of migrants, the trafficking in human beings, and other related crimes and to also ensure that assistance be provided to the victims of trafficking and migrants in vulnerable situations,” it said in a statement.
Members of Garda National Immigration Bureau and the Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit (HTICU) monitored 120 flights and checked 16,000 people.
One person was arrested for an alleged people smuggling incident earlier this year.
Another person was detained in relation to similar incidents which occurred in 2022 and 2023.
Both suspects have since been released without charge and files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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