In 2024, 21 smugglers of illegal migrants from Latvia were detained in Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Poland (in 2022 – 42, in 2023 – 55), but since the beginning of 2025, the Latvian Embassy in Hungary has received information about six more cases and the Latvian Embassy in Poland has reported 11 more detentions.
“The job offer and the promised salary are tempting, so according to information available to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, several dozen Latvian nationals have already agreed,” said a ministry statement.
Although recruiters promise that the job involves transporting goods, in reality, the workers are illegally bringing immigrants into the European Union. This is a criminal offense, and individuals face arrest and prosecution in the country where the crime was committed. The penalties for smuggling immigrants are severe, often meaning years in prison.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “strongly urges Latvian nationals to carefully evaluate any job offer abroad and not to agree to promises of easy profits from unverified employers, as they may be intended to commit a criminal offense.”
A brief video clip on the matter was also published, which you can watch above.
Persons who find themselves in an emergency situation abroad are invited to contact the 24-hour duty officer of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by phone: +371 26337711 or e-mail: [email protected]. You can also find information at www.cilvektirdznieciba.lv.
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