ZAGREB, May 21, 2018 – Early Monday morning Slovenian police detained two illegal migrants after they entered the country from Croatia by swimming across the Kupa River, while a third person from this group drowned, Slovenian media said.
The two persons were caught near the border town of Metlika and they told the police that a third person from their group had drowned. The police were still trying to establish the identity of the drowned person and the circumstances of what had happened, STA news agency said.
According to a recent report, four illegal migrants from North Africa had been found drowned on the Slovenian side of the Kupa River this year, and this was the fifth such case.
The nationality of the illegal migrants caught today was not given.
Slovenian media, citing police sources, said that 82 illegal migrants had been discovered entering the country between Friday and Sunday. The STA news agency said that those people were nationals of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Morocco, India, Libya and Egypt. They have all applied for international protection and have been accommodated in a centre for asylum seekers.
Also on Monday morning, Slovenian police found three illegal migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan hiding in a Bulgarian-registered truck at the Obrežje/Bregana border crossing with Croatia. They were handed over to the Croatian police.
