Turkish national sentenced to five years for illegal migration scheme

A 68-year-old Turkish citizen has been sentenced to five years in prison for organizing illegal migration schemes into the European Union through the Republic of Moldova.

Following a prosecution by PCCOCS, the court found the individual involved in facilitating the transit of migrants using forged documents. In one instance, an Iraqi family—consisting of a couple and their three-year-old child—paid $30,000 to travel from Turkey to Paris via Chișinău. The family was intercepted by border police after presenting falsified Croatian passports. They were later transported by accomplices across the Prut River into Romania.

In a separate incident, the defendant organized the illegal transit of another Turkish man who had previously been denied a German tourist visa. This individual traveled through Ukraine into the Transnistrian region before being transported to Chișinău International Airport, where his forged passport was detected. The service for this transit cost 2,500 euros.

The court ordered the confiscation of a Mercedes used in the smuggling operations, as well as the illicit funds totaling $30,000 and 2,500 euros. The individual will be expelled from Moldova following the completion of his prison sentence.