Asylum seeker from Iraqi, who arrived in Latvia via Belarus in mid – July, paid smugglers $ 15,000 to enter the European Union, reports Latvian Television (LTV) show “De Facto” on Sunday.
–
–
Content will continue after the ad
Advertising
–
The largest influx of border violators in Latvia was recorded in the beginning of August, when Lithuania closed its border, but the first groups entered Latvia through Belarus at the end of June.
In total, almost 400 migrants have arrived in Latvia and almost all of them are Iraqi citizens. Half are men, 21% – women, 29% – children. Almost everyone has applied for asylum in Latvia. It will take months to process their applications, notes LTV.
One of the border violators is the Iraqi Omar, whose LTV program met at the asylum seekers’ center in Mucenieki. HeBelarus crossed the border in mid-July.
De Facto reports that the young man has left Iraq for his own safety. He did not want LTV to reveal his face, because as an interpreter he helped the military forces of different countries in the fight against “Daesh“(” Islamic State “).
“I paid 15,000 dollars,” he replied, asked how much the trip to Latvia had cost.
According to the program, Omar found a smuggler in Iraq and handed him money at the airport. First he flew to Moscow, then went to Latvia in a group of 10 people via St. Petersburg and Belarus.
“Everything was organized by a smuggler. I didn’t have to worry about anything. We drove cars, walked at times. We walked through the forest for seven hours, for example. It was a long way. (..) When I met the Latvian border patrols, they were sure that I I came from Belarus, “he told LTV.
An Iraqi met in “Mucenieki” says that two years ago those who tried to cross Belarus European Union border, caught, imprisoned and sent back. Now the situation is diametrically opposed. The trip itself was very expensive for him, but much cheaper for his acquaintances, says “De Facto”.
“It was so easy to get a Belarusian visa. Only for 20 dollars. For 600 dollars you could buy a package with plane tickets, a car for seven days, a visa. It was an offer that had never been before,” Omar told the program.
According to the program, there is no doubt in the Latvian internal affairs structures that the flow of border violators is artificially created by the Belarusian authorities.
Some people have been identified who may have helped the border violators on the Latvian side. Border guards Deputy Chief Ruskulis reveals that two Estonian citizens have been arrested on suspicion of meeting illegal border crossers in Latvia to transport them deeper into the European Union.
There are no signs yet that tensions at the border will ease in the near future. The Latvian-Belarusian border is very grateful to the violators, because the border is well visible only in certain sections, but there is no fence.
Therefore, the government and Saeima has decided to install a barbed wire fence 37 kilometers out of a total of 173 kilometers in an accelerated manner this year, the program recalls.
–
