Taliban take control of human smugglers gathering at Hungary's southern border

According to our sources in the south, Afghan people-smuggling gangs operating in northern Serbia are coming under the informal control of the Taliban government. They are eradicating all infighting and have taken control of the sending of financial resources already. Besides, they also provide money to corrupt local authorities and to purchase weapons, where needed. Less than two and a half years after assuming power in Afghanistan, the Taliban are besieging the gates of Europe.

AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-DIPLOMACY-REFUGEE-PROTEST A Taliban fighter stands guard outside the US embassy as people demonstrate against videos of allegedly showing Afghan refugees being beaten by Iranians went viral, near the Ahmad Shah Massoud square in Kabul on April 12, 2022. Iran, which hosts more than five million Afghan refugees, has seen a fresh influx of Afghans entering the country since the Taliban stormed back to power last August. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP) Fotó: Europress/AFP/Wakil Kohsar

Barely a month ago, Magyar Nemzet highlighted the issue that aggression by migrant smugglers has reached a new level at Hungary's southern border. A gang of Afghan people smugglers operating in the south began  posting intimidating videos on social media. Simply referencing themselves as the "killer group", they show fists forming into pistols and hands making a slashing motion across the throat. By then, the situation around Hungary's southern border was already tense, and people smugglers have even used weapons against Serbian police.

There is, however, a new development that's become a talking point among the rival human smuggling gangs. According to our local informants, a Taliban takeover of the predominantly Afghan migrant smugglers is underway, as Afghan government circles have identified financial and other opportunities in human smuggling, and have also recognized that they can take control of these gangs - using aggression even against each other - with relative ease.

So, a message has arrived from Afghanistan, aiming to end the infighting and introduce a unified command and control system. To this end, "the motherland" is willing to provide temporary financial assistance, and the funds could be used to corrupt willing members of the local authorities, or to further arms procurement.

If all goes according to plan, once the internal showdowns are over, the losses caused by them - estimated at hundreds of thousands of euros (!) - could be a major source of additional profit.

Migrant smugglers have also reported that since mid-September, the Afghan currency exchangers' formerly lax deposit rules have changed. For a few weeks now, there are no independent businesses in the area, and money can only be deposited with designated currency changers, which means that remittance is now under central control. This is something the migrant gangs active in northern Serbia have immediately felt, so they are also talking about hoping for more help from Afghanistan in the production of "papers", i.e. travel documents, following the Taliban "takeover".

So there is no question that the people smugglers who threaten others on social media will soon become even more powerful, more disciplined, and even more militarized.

Less than two and a half years after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the radicals militants may also be in control of the Afghan people smuggling gangs, which already has palpable consequences at Hungary's borders.

Cover photo: A Taliban gunman (Photo: Europress/AFP/Wakil Kohsar)