Görlitz (dpa / sn) – The federal police arrested a suspected smuggler near Görlitz. The 36-year-old suspect is accused of driving five Syrian men across the border near Ludwigsdorf in his car, the police said on Tuesday.

According to a spokesman, the man was arrested on Sunday on the A4 near Kodersdorf. At the request of the public prosecutor’s office, an investigating judge issued an arrest warrant against the man who lives in Baden-Württemberg. He was caught in October near Passau at the lock.

According to the Federal Police, a total of 31 smuggled people from Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan were taken into custody over the Christmas holidays from Saturday to Monday in Görlitz and on the Autobahn near Kodersdorf. Most of them came to Germany via the Balkan route, it said.