An illegal migrant smuggling network involved civil society groups that prominently backed Donald Tusk’s coalition parties in the last election, a Polish broadcaster said May 20.
Three civil society activists had direct communications with suspects in an ongoing criminal case involving smuggling of Egyptian and Iraqi nationals to Germany between 2021 and 2022, according to independent conservative broadcaster TV Republika.
Three individuals reportedly all maintained communication with people transporting the migrants from the border town of Hajnówka to Warsaw.
They used text messages and encrypted Signal communications for logistical planning, including the need for vehicles, drivers, and safe houses, according to documents in possession of Polish prosecutors, says the broadcaster.
The three are said to have extensively used encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal and WhatsApp, along with code words such as “doggies” for male migrants and “kitties” for women and children.
The operation was said to have been systematic and designed to avoid detection. The migrants, primarily from Iraq, were transported in small numbers of one to three people in a vehicle, often hidden under blankets. Houses, particularly in Warsaw, served as temporary shelters for the migrants.
Instructions also advised participants to only communicate in code and to telephone lawyers if stopped by the authorities.
Drivers were advised to refuel and go to the lavatory before pickups to avoid stopping, carry snacks, water, paper towels and blankets, keep passengers hidden behind tinted windows, to say nothing to police, and if stopped, to claim they picked up a hitchhiker.
One of the notes instructs hosts to “delete, burn, or eat” the instruction sheet after reading.
Prosecutors have yet to press formal charges against the three individuals. They are currently being investigated only in cases involving ongoing prosecutions of other individuals.
Two people who are currently facing trial liaised with two of these individuals in transporting the migrants from Hajnówka to Warsaw.
The revelations are an embarrassment to PM Tusk’s ruling Civic Coalition, as they involve individuals who campaigned prominently against the last PiS government and for the parties making up Tusk’s current governing coalition.
The leaked documents appear to show parts of that political movement sought to make the border more porous and were willing to engage in illegal activities to make that happen.
In opposition, Tusk’s party criticised the last PiS government for inhuman treatment of migrants on the Polish-Belarus border. The party also opposed the PiS for its further fortifications along that frontier.
However, on arriving in office in late 2023, Tusk’s party quickly changed course on the border issue. It has fortified it further, and this year has increasingly refused asylum applications on that border.
