A Center for Combating Migrant Smuggling has been launched in The Hague at Europol headquarters

On March 24, 2026, Europol Executive Director Catherine De Boll officially announced the launch of the European Centre for the Prevention of Migrant Smuggling (ECAMS). 

This was reported by Ukrinform.

The new entity was established as a strategic response to the rise of organized crime amid geopolitical instability. The center will focus on dismantling criminal networks involved in the illegal smuggling of people from Asia and Africa to Europe, treating migrants’ lives as a commodity for profit.

ECAMS’s activities will include countering online recruitment, tracking illicit financial flows, and providing operational support to law enforcement agencies in EU countries. De Boll noted that smugglers’ methods are becoming more brutal, including the use of encrypted communications and kidnapping for ransom. In 2025 alone, Europol supported approximately 200 operations, leading to the arrest of over 460 suspects as part of the fight against illegal migration.

In parallel with the tightening of controls on migration routes, the international community continues to investigate Russian war crimes. The mandate of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which is working on cases related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, has been extended for another two years. The group’s priority remains investigating the illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to the territories of Russia and Belarus.

The Italian prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into two fashion companies on suspicion of using migrant workers illegally. The companies are under judicial supervision.

Lithuanian border guards prevented 18 illegal migrants from entering the country over the past 24 hours as they attempted to cross from Belarus. Some of them even managed to break through the fence, but they were quickly found and turned back.