Hundreds of smugglers arrested at borders
Since the intensification of the external borders, emergency services have arrested a large number of smugglers in Baden-Württemberg. According to the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”, this shows that wherever the controlled is increasingly controlled, more smugglers also go online.
At the Swiss border, a maximum value was reached with 146 arrested smugglers, citing figures from the federal police with 146 arrested smugglers, at France at 60. Since 2021 to March 2025, there have been 552 arrested smugglers at Baden-Württemberg’s external borders. They often squeeze high sums and bring them to Germany under inhumane conditions.
According to the newspapers, there are also massive climbs over the past few years – especially since the newspapers – especially since the controls at the respective national border intensified. At the border with Switzerland, where the tightening took place earlier, the highest level of unauthorized entry was reached at 16,370 in 2023. Since then, the numbers have been gradually going back – the paths change. At the border with France, the maximum of 5,466 was reached last year, and the numbers have increased somewhat since then.
In Baden-Württemberg, the border to Switzerland has been monitored more than a year since autumn 2023 and France. The federal police are responsible for this.
Kehl’s mayor Wolfram Britz and his Strasbourg counterpart Jeanne Barseghian, however, complained to Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) about the increased controls at the German border. The controls significantly impaired life in the Franco-German metropolitan area. The controls that have been reinforced since May 8 have become economically noticeable, the city heads reported. The Kehler retail has fewer customers from the neighboring Strasbourg region. Companies in the Baden-Württemberg border region are dependent on specialists from neighboring Alsace.
