Lithuanian border guards turned back 18 migrants at the border with Belarus
According to the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, 18 migrants attempting to enter the country illegally were turned back at the border with Belarus over the past 24 hours.
The last time a higher number of crossing attempts was recorded was at the end of November, when 20 people attempted to cross the border in a single day.
On Friday, 11 migrants were spotted in the Švenčionys district. They were accompanied to the border from the Belarusian side by two men. One of them used a special tool to damage the physical barrier installed on the Lithuanian side. This created a hole in the lower section of the barbed wire, through which the group entered Lithuanian territory.
The Service noted that this is the first case this year in which individuals, likely linked to the Belarusian authorities or those who face no obstacles from their side, have damaged the barrier and directed migrants towards Lithuania.
In response, border guards at the Adutiškis post blocked the surrounding areas and roads. A dog handler with a service dog was brought in to assist with the search.
A group of migrants who had reached the edge of the forest was spotted from the air by a State Border Guard Service helicopter crew.
The 11 men detained did not resist. During questioning, the youngest identified himself as 21 years old, the oldest as 26. Five stated they were citizens of Pakistan, five of Afghanistan, and one of Iran. Seven had documents, the rest did not.
According to the service, on Friday, Latvian border guards did not turn back any migrants, and no attempts to cross the border were recorded in Poland.
Since the start of the year, a total of 76 illegal migrants have been denied entry to Lithuania. Last year, attempts to cross the border illegally from Belarus were recorded over 1,600 times; the year before, 1,002.
Border guards note that the flow of migrants is currently lower this year. During this period, 118 unsuccessful attempts were recorded in Latvia, 95 in Poland and 76 in Lithuania.
According to the service, recently it has mostly been men aged between 20 and 40 who have been attempting to cross the border.
The migration crisis on the EU’s eastern borders began in 2021. Western countries accuse the regime in Minsk of orchestrating it.
Since August 2021, following the introduction of a pushback policy in Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, over 200,000 illegal migrants have been prevented from entering from Belarus.
