Three Latvians and a Russian busted in Lithuania for smuggling Vietnamese migrants

The border guards stopped three vehicles with Latvian plates, going one after another to Poland on the road Marijampolė-Suwalki.

“The BMW 525’s driver was a Latvian citizen, 21. She was visibly nervous. The border guards also stopped a Volvo V70 that was following the BMW 525 and it was driven by the stopped woman’s brother, 30. There was also a Latvian passenger, 42, inside the Volvo,” the border guards said.

Later on, the border guards also stopped a Mercedes Benz CLS 320 driven by a Russian citizen, 25. After seeing that, the Latvians got visibly concerned. The young woman tried to take her mobile phone apart but the border guards managed to take it from her.

It turned out that two men were hiding between the front and back seats of the Mercedes Benz CLS 320 and another two were in the trunk. Three of the four illegal immigrants had Vietnamese passports without Schengen visas. The fourth man had no ID.

The Russian and Latvian citizens were taken into custody and the Vietnamese immigrants were taken into the Foreigners’ Registration Centre in Pabradė.

A pre-trial investigation has been launched into human smuggling and the suspects are facing up to 8 years in prison.

Lithuanian border guards have detained 17 Latvian citizens this year for taking illegal immigrants through Lithuania or accompanying them. All in all, 276 illegal immigrants from Vietnam have been detained in Lithuania.