The respondent, a 30-year-old Syrian man, was travelling by train on the 4th of December 2022. As the train stopped at Freilassing train station, he was reportedly apprehended by ‘two police officers wearing uniforms’. 

According to the respondent, the two uniformed men boarded the train and approached two individuals from Syria and Afghanistan,  who were seated on board, and asked them to leave the train. The suspected police officers reportedly called two additional ‘police officers’ for support. Furthermore, he reported that another person was discovered in a bathroom on the train and all of the apprehended individuals, including the respondent, were ordered to leave the train.  

The respondent explained that he attempted to contact his brother, who resides in Germany, in order to assist with communication between him and the uniformed men that he believed to be police officers, but his request was denied. According to the respondent, they remained at Freilassing train station for approximately one hour until ‘additional police officers’ arrived. They were then taken to a ‘police station’. Despite expressing the intention to seek asylum, the respondent was ‘brought to a holding cell’ where five other individuals were also detained. He reported that the individuals detained included two Afghan nationals, one Syrian national from Raqqa, one Indian national and one Turkish national. 

The respondent recalled that his fingerprints and photograph were taken. Furthermore, his personal belongings were searched, and he was requested to ‘strip completely naked in front of them’. He recounted that he was even asked to ‘squat in front of them to see if I was hiding something somewhere’ which he expressed was ‘a very embarrassing situation’ for him.

Later on, the respondent stated that he was transported to the Salzburg police station in Austria by car, where he was fingerprinted before being ‘let go’.