A court in Bavaria has sentenced a man to seven years in prison for his role in a migrant smuggling network that transported people into Germany under dangerous conditions.
The Regional Court in Landshut also ordered the confiscation of €12,000 in criminal proceeds following the conviction.
According to the court, the defendant was involved in nine smuggling operations after joining a network in the summer of 2023. The group reportedly transported migrants from Hungary into Germany and worked with a Serbian organisation that initially moved people from other countries to Budapest.
Prosecutors described the defendant as one of the network’s leading figures. He allegedly commissioned smuggling operations, participated in some transport journeys and arranged payments for drivers.
The indictment said migrants were frequently transported without adequate safety measures. Some were reportedly carried in vehicle loading areas, while other operations involved overloaded vehicles or people being concealed in car trunks.
The Landshut Regional Court has handled several other migrant smuggling cases in recent weeks, highlighting continued efforts by German authorities to dismantle organised networks operating along migration routes into Bavaria.
In a separate case, another man was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for helping organise the entry of 53 people into Germany across 12 incidents. The court also ordered the confiscation of €10,410 in proceeds, although the ruling is not yet final.
The Landshut court’s prominent role in such cases is partly linked to Bavaria’s special judicial structure. The Landshut public prosecutor’s office has regional responsibility for economic and organised crime, including people smuggling, across several eastern Bavarian court districts. As a result, complex cross-border smuggling cases are often prosecuted in the town.
The latest conviction comes amid broader investigations into international smuggling networks operating along Central European routes.
German and Swiss authorities recently arrested five suspected members of another network accused of smuggling more than 700 people into Germany and generating millions of euros in illegal profits. Investigators said the group operated between October 2023 and March 2024 and was connected to earlier smuggling activity around Passau near the Austrian border.
Authorities allege that migrants in those operations were transported in life-threatening conditions, including inside the loading areas of vans and trucks.
The cases demonstrate continued enforcement efforts against organised migrant smuggling networks operating across European borders. However, Bavarian authorities reported in February that the state’s border police had recorded a significant decline in unauthorised entries and smuggling cases in 2025.
Despite the decrease, officials say people smuggling remains a persistent challenge along migration routes into Germany.