Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, led an international operation against serious and organized cross-border crime in Central and South Eastern Europe, which commenced June 28 and concluded July 8.
The operation, known as Joint Action Day Danube 4 focused on combatting the smuggling of migrants and document fraud. It was co-led by Austria, where a coordination center was put in place to support the exchange of intelligence among the participants. Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia also took part in the action. EU agencies and international organizations, such as Europol and Interpol provided operational information exchange between the countries.
Within less than two weeks, the international cooperation led to the arrest of 26 suspected people smugglers, the detection of 2,760 irregular migrants and 92 fraudulent documents, and the seizure of EUR 403,850 in smuggled cash.
