Lithuanian border guards have detained 150 illegal immigrants during the day

This number is three times higher than the previous largest number of border violators detained in one day, VSAT representative Ģiedrjus Mišutis told the news agency BNS.

From Thursday morning to Friday morning, a total of 14 groups of illegal immigrants were detained in various parts of the border, the two largest of which were 42 and 32 people. These include citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Cameroon, or people who pretend to be such, some of whom do not have any documents. Most have already applied for asylum in Lithuania.

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All detainees will be tested for Covid-19 and will remain in isolation until results are available.

In total, 822 illegal immigrants have tried to reach Lithuania across the Belarusian border since the beginning of the year – ten times more than in the whole of last year.

In 2020, 81 foreigners were detained for attempting to cross the border illegally, in 2019 – 46, in 2018 – 104 and in 2017 – 72.

Lithuanian officials suspect that the Belarussian regime is deliberately facilitating the flow of migrants across the border.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, in response to the European Union’s new sanctions, announced last week that Belarus would no longer protect Europe from illegal immigrants, drug trafficking and smuggling.

With the increase in the flow of illegal immigrants, the SBGS has strengthened the security of the Belarusian border by reorganizing its forces and, among other things, seconding border guards from other units. The Border Guard has also been assisted by the forces of the Public Security Service, the Riflemen’s Union and other institutions, and employees of the European Union (EU) border guard agency “Frontex” will also start working at the Belarusian border.