European police forces have dismantled a large international criminal network that smuggled irregular migrants to Western European countries for money.

The announcement was made by Europol on Wednesday.

In a Europol-coordinated operation, which involved the police services of several countries, 77 people of various nationalities were arrested "in Kosovo, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, France and Germany," a Europol statement said.

"The migrants typically traveled to Serbia on their own where they made contact with facilitators, who subsequently smuggled them into Hungary. Upon their arrival in Hungary, the irregular migrants were handled by another cell of the same criminal network. In many cases, the migrants claimed asylum in Hungary prior to being smuggled onwards to their final destinations in Switzerland, Italy, Germany and France," Europol said.

The facilitators charged around EUR 2,800 per person or EUR 7,000 for a whole family and the payments were made in advance via Western Union and similar money transfer services.

In simultaneous raids, numerous cars, computers and false documents were seized, as was more than EUR 52 000 in cash, Europol said.