In a separate 30 June operation, officers from the Warmińsko-Mazurski Border Guard stopped an Opel hatchback with Gliwice plates in Poland’s Ełk county. The driver, a Ukrainian national sporting insulated takeaway bags to pose as a food-delivery worker, was found to be transporting four Afghan citizens – one hidden in the boot – none of whom held valid travel documents. The arrest followed a tip-off from Podlaskie Border Guard units that the vehicle had picked up the group near the Lithuanian border. Investigators say the smuggling ring uses ride-hailing and courier disguises to blend into urban traffic, paying drivers up to €800 per trip. All five individuals were detained. The Afghans face accelerated readmission to Lithuania, while the driver is charged with organising illegal migration and could face up to eight years in prison. Authorities are probing whether the incident is linked to a wider network dismantled in Warsaw earlier this month.
![‘Food courier’ caught carrying Afghan migrants in Ełk county sting]()
For companies and travellers who want to stay well on the right side of Poland’s immigration rules, VisaHQ provides fast, professional assistance with visas and work permits via its dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/). Using the platform’s streamlined tools, HR teams and individual applicants can secure the correct documentation before entering Poland, helping them avoid the kind of roadside checks and penalties that have lately intensified along internal EU borders.
For global mobility teams, the case underlines how creative smuggling tactics can trigger snap roadside checks that disrupt legitimate commercial deliveries. Companies employing foreign gig-economy couriers in border regions should ensure work-permit compliance and anticipate random inspections. Poland has logged a 27 % year-on-year rise in detections of migrants smuggled inside passenger cars since January, according to Border Guard statistics, reinforcing political calls to maintain inland checkpoints through the summer tourist season.
For companies and travellers who want to stay well on the right side of Poland’s immigration rules, VisaHQ provides fast, professional assistance with visas and work permits via its dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/). Using the platform’s streamlined tools, HR teams and individual applicants can secure the correct documentation before entering Poland, helping them avoid the kind of roadside checks and penalties that have lately intensified along internal EU borders.
For global mobility teams, the case underlines how creative smuggling tactics can trigger snap roadside checks that disrupt legitimate commercial deliveries. Companies employing foreign gig-economy couriers in border regions should ensure work-permit compliance and anticipate random inspections. Poland has logged a 27 % year-on-year rise in detections of migrants smuggled inside passenger cars since January, according to Border Guard statistics, reinforcing political calls to maintain inland checkpoints through the summer tourist season.
