Czech police said on Thursday they had arrested 17 people when they broke up a people-smuggling ring that brought at least 135 illegal immigrants to Western Europe from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Police were only continuing to hold the two alleged heads of the trafficking network, both Indians living in the Czech Republic, said Blanka Kosinova, a spokeswoman for the country's department fighting organised crime in Prague.
The suspected leaders of the operation face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
The traffickers allegedly helped the illegal immigrants to demand asylum in the Czech Republic before hiding them in specially designed chests and driving them through border checkpoints into western Europe.
This activity earned them at least 54 million korunas (1.9 million euros, 2.5 dollars), said Kosinova. But she said the real profit figure -- like that of the number of people smuggled through -- could be far higher.