Human smuggling gang busted in central, eastern Europe

VIENNA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Police have busted an international smuggling gang, believed to have smuggled tens of thousands of migrants from Hungary to Austria, in central and eastern Europe, Austria's interior ministry said Thursday.

Austria's interior minister Gerhard Karner told a press conference that 205 members of the gang had been arrested in Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, Austrian news agency APA reported.

The gang is believed to have smuggled more than 36,100 people, most of whom are Syrian migrants, and have raked in about 152 million euros (158 million U.S. dollars), Karner said.

APA reported that the smuggling gang is linked to the incident of two suffocated migrants found in a van at the Austria-Hungary border last October.