MOSCOW, February 3 (RAPSI) – Polish and German police have detained five Russian nationals “for the smuggling of irregular migrants” into Germany, Europol said in a statement released on Saturday.

“Those arrested are suspected of being part an organized criminal network, composed of mainly Russian nationals with Chechen origin, who facilitated the illegal immigration of fellow country nationals via Poland to Germany,” the statement reads.

“The criminal group operated from various European countries and recruited Polish taxi drivers to transport the migrants across borders and to asylum centers in Germany. The group is suspected of smuggling more than 200 Chechen migrants since March 2013, charging around EUR 1,500 a time for the ‘service,’” Europol states.

Two of the suspects were arrested in Germany and three in Poland. In addition, several houses were searched and important evidence collected, including computers, hard drives, mobile phones and SIM cards.

More than 170 German, Polish and Belgian police officers were involved in the operation. The suspects were detained on Wednesday January 29, but the news was only made public on Friday.