More than 500 migrants have illegally crossed Croatian-Slovenian border this year.
The Police Department of Novo Mesto in Slovenia, which controls from the Slovenian side of the area with several major road and railway border crossings with Croatia, such as Bregana, Harmica and Dobova, in the first 11 months of this year detained 537 foreigners who have tried to illegally cross the “green border” between the two countries or have tried to cross the border at official crossings by being hidden from border controls, announced the Slovenian border police, reports Jutarnji List on December 1, 2016.
There were 185 such separate incidents, with people trying to cross the border either alone or as a part of an organized effort.
Just like last year when a large migrant wave passed through Croatia and Slovenia, which was ultimately stopped after the so-called Balkan migrant route was closed down, among those who illegally cross the border this year there are mostly nationals of Afghanistan, Syria and Pakistan, but also citizens of Turkey, Albania and Kosovo.
At the railway border crossing at Dobova, from the beginning of the year the police on the trains caught 274 persons who tried to hide from border controls.
Most of those who have illegally crossed the border have been returned to the Croatian police after the process of readmission, but some have stayed in Slovenia because they applied for asylum, which was a very rare case last year during the large migration wave.
According to data announced by the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior, in the first ten months of this year, on all borders with all neighbouring countries, Slovenia recorded 792 illegal entries, which is 89.5 percent more than in the first ten months of last year. Although the situation with illegal attempts is still not dramatic, the Slovenian government is preparing for the possibility of increased inflow of migrants and claims that it will strictly protect the Schengen border with Croatia.
Similar situation reportedly exists on the border between Serbia and Croatia where, according to recent media reports, local residents say they are seeing more and more illegal attempts to cross the border.
They claim that it all began back in August and September, when they noticed that a police helicopter started flying more often over their heads, monitoring the area near the border with Serbia. While spokesman of the local police department said that he had no information about the appearance of illegal migrants in the area. reports from locals are becoming more common, and many are afraid that last year’s migrant wave could be repeated.
