GARDAÍ RAIDED premises in Dublin's south inner city yesterday as part of a major pan-European crackdown against a suspected people smuggling network operating between Asia and Europe.
The operation, which Europol described as the biggest of its kind, led to the arrests of 75 suspects in nine European countries.
Some 1,300 officers took part in "Operation Baghdad", arresting 24 suspects in France and dozens more in Germany, Greece, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain.
In Dublin, officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau and the Special Detective Unit searched premises in the south inner city at 6.30am, but no arrests were made. In a statement, the European policing agencies which helped to co-ordinate the operation named Ireland as one of the destination countries for those smuggled by the group.
"All suspects are said to be involved in the clandestine smuggling of a large number of illegal immigrants into and within the European Union," said a joint statement by Europol and Eurojust - a network of European judicial authorities. "This was one of the largest co-ordinated actions against people smugglers ever."
The operation targeted a network comprising mainly Iraqi nationals and former nationals who co-ordinated the transit of citizens from Afghanistan, China, Turkey, Bangladesh and Iraq.
"It transported them to various EU member states, such as Ireland, the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries," said the statement. "Each of the persons being smuggled is believed to have paid between €10,000 and €12,000, depending on the means of transportation and final destination."
In France, one of the main organisers is suspected to have smuggled about 280 people between July 2007 and January 2008. The money usually was paid via wire transfer.
The immigrants typically travelled in cramped conditions in camping cars, coaches, or boats from Iraq via Turkey to Europe. In exceptional cases they were smuggled by plane.
The joint operation was initiated in Paris, where an international co-ordination centre was set up. Europol prepared the intelligence reports and co-ordinated police operations while Eurojust was in charge of the co-ordinated issuing of European arrest warrants.
All the arrests were made yesterday during co-ordinated raids in eight European countries.
Yesterday's French arrests took place in Paris, Cherbourg and other regions. The suspects can be held for up to four days for questioning, but if charged the network ringleaders face sentences of 10 years in jail and fines of €750,000.
Six people were arrested in the UK, while in Belgium police detained 10 people during raids in Brussels and in the nearby city of Louvain. Seven suspects were arrested in Germany, where the alleged leader is understood to be a 28-year-old Iraqi citizen living in Wuppertal.
In Sweden, more than a dozen people were detained in connection with the operation, while five others were questioned but later released.
