A clash between Romanian border police officers and migrant traffickers took place on Tuesday night in a truck parking lot on the Timișoara – Arad highway.
The officers were attacked with knives and fired several shots.
The agents ambushed the criminals. They noticed 8 migrants and 3 guides trying to board a truck, so they emerged from hiding and ordered them to stop to be detained.
But the traffickers engaged in a knife fight.
One of the police officers was stabbed in the shoulder, and another received 4 blows: in the leg, thigh, hip area, and knee.
It is a first for border Romanian police officers to be injured in such a mission.
The injured are in the hospital but out of any danger.
In turn, the officers fired 13 shots vertically, causing the criminals to flee.
The police only caught one of the guides and 8 migrants.
UPDATE 1 With the help of drones, the police managed to locate another man and a woman involved in last night's incident.
"Following integrated activities, two foreign citizens involved in illegal migration activities from last night were discovered. A man from Afghanistan involved in guiding activity and a woman from Guinea who was part of the migrant group," the Border Police reported.
To apprehend all those involved in the incident, even a helicopter was deployed.
Regarding the individuals detained overnight, the 8 foreign citizens are from Nepal, Syria, and Congo, with the guide being from Nepal.
UPDATE 2 After nearly 12 hours, the man who attacked the two police officers with a knife was located. He is an Afghan citizen with a residence permit in Romania. The trafficker was found in the Iosefin area of Timișoara, hiding in the yard of a house on Preyer Street.