Áron Orbán arrested in Budapest: charged with human trafficking of more than 100 Vietnamese citizens
The younger brother of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was arrested in a joint investigative operation at four locations. He is suspected of human trafficking Vietnamese citizens to Western Europe.
Áron Orbán arrested in operation at four locations around Budapest
Slovenian news outlets reported that Hungary released the first photographs of Áron Orbán, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, taken after his arrest. A photojournalist from the media outlet HVG captured him in the rear seat of a police vehicle; the police simultaneously released footage of the extensive investigative operation.
Hungary's National Investigation Bureau (NNI) and National Office for Asset Recovery and Protection (NVVH) conducted a joint operation on Monday. Arrests and house searches took place at four locations around Budapest and in the towns of Fót and Dunakeszi. The suspects were brought to detention by members of a specialist police unit in three minibuses.
According to the investigators, four arrested persons, including Áron Orbán, allegedly helped Vietnamese citizens enter and travel further to Western Europe in 2024. The group is said to have assisted in obtaining visas at Hungarian diplomatic representations in Vietnam and charged an intermediary fee for each individual, with the money subsequently divided among themselves.
As the purpose of short-term residence in the country, the suspects cited so-called micro-education. Some of the migrants did attend the course, but did not leave the country within the validity period of the visa; the majority did not attend the education at all, despite entering Hungarian territory. Based on the evidence gathered so far, the common goal of all departures is believed to have been Western Europe. According to investigators' estimates, the four individuals helped more than one hundred Vietnamese citizens. Items, documents, and electronic data that could serve as evidence were seized.
Viktor Orbán sharply rejected the investigation into his brother and described it as political retaliation. "The aim of this dirty game is to remove a political opponent and establish a one-party system. I am the target, but my brother is merely a pawn on the chessboard," the former Prime Minister stated.
He accused the government of incumbent Prime Minister Péter Magyar of attempting to redirect public attention from the controversial release of communist secret police archive files from the previous week through the investigation. "Today the government should answer to the national security committee for its handling of communist-era secret police archives. But instead of facing oversight, it resorts to political persecution. What is happening in Hungary is not accountability — it is a political witch-hunt," Viktor Orbán wrote on the X network, according to Dnevnik.hr.
Source: Slovenske novice