Another fifty migrants were captured on the border with Belarus

Of the 53 migrants, 23 were detained in Druskininkai municipality by border guards guarding the border with Belarus. 14 migrants were detained in Ignalina district, 9 in Švenčionys, 7 in Varėna.
According to preliminary data, the Druskininkai border guards have detained a total of 461 illegal immigrants in the past six days. This number is the highest among all SBGS firewalls.

Illegal migrants have previously been housed in premises provided by the city and district of Alytus, the municipalities of Ignalina, Varėna and Lazdijai. The accommodation of detainees is also carried out at the SBGS Alien Registration Center in Pabradė and the Border Guard School in Medininkai, and unaccompanied minors are transferred to the Refugee Reception Center in Rukla.

The detained aliens will be tested for COVID-19 and isolated until the results are available. The circumstances of the events are clarified, investigations are carried out. Asylum seekers have been notified by the Department of Migration, which processes such applications.

At a meeting last Friday, the government declared a state-of-the-art emergency situation due to the sharp increase in illegal migration to Lithuania.

This year, 1,416 illegal immigrants from Belarus tried to enter Lithuania. That number is more than 17 times higher than it was in 2020. Last year, 81 of those foreigners were detained at the border with Lithuania. 2019 46 illegal immigrants were caught by border guards in 2018; – 104, 2017 – 72.

Among those detained on the border with Belarus this year there are mostly Iraqi citizens or foreigners who have come forward to them: 615. 196 citizens of the Congo, 110 of Cameroon, 80 of Guinea, 57 Iranians and other countries have also been detained.

Border guards are still clarifying the citizenship of some migrants, as many of them do not have documents.

A large part of the detainees seek to enter Western European countries through Lithuania.

With the recent sharp increase in the number of such cases, SBGS has strengthened border security with Belarus. In addition to various organizational measures, officials from other SBGS units were assigned to this section and additional technical resources were assigned.

In addition, the border guards were assisted by forces from the Public Security Service, the Union of Rifles and other institutions, as well as officials from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency FRONTEX, who began working on the border with Belarus. . Soon, 10 Estonian border guards will be used to protect the Lithuanian border.