On Friday, just after 3 p.m., the police stopped a 30-year-old driver of a van with a Serbian registration somewhere near Čatež ob Savi. They found that the Serbian national hid 13 Nepalese and eight Bangladeshi nationals in his van, who had illegally crossed the border, the Novo mesto Police Directorate said. The Serbian national was arrested and detained, and his vehicle was seized. He will be brought before an investigating judge with a criminal charge of the offence of illegal crossing of the borders or territory of a country. The police on the coast were also busy – over the weekend, officers from the Koper Police Directorate dealt with 94 illegal border crossings.
The Novo mesto Police Directorate reported that they arrested a smuggler and several foreigners who illegally crossed the state border. Namely, on Friday, the 29th of July, just after 3 p.m., the police stopped a 30-year-old driver of a van with a Serbian registration somewhere near Čatež ob Savi. During the procedure, they found that the Serbian national was driving 13 Nepalese and eight Bangladeshi nationals in his van, who had illegally crossed the border. The Serbian national was arrested, detained, and his van was seized. He will be brought before an investigating judge with a criminal charge of the offence of illegal crossing of the borders or territory of a country.
Between the 31st of July 2022, from 6 a.m., and the 1st of August 2022, until 6 a.m., five foreigners (Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals) who had illegally crossed the national border were tracked down and apprehended while the police were carrying out their state border surveillance duties in the area of Predgrad. The procedures of the police officers with the foreigners are not yet completed, according to the Ljubljana Police Directorate.
The police officers carrying out border surveillance duties in the area of the Brežice Police Station (Brezje pri Veliki Dolini, Rigonce, Slovenska vas, Dobova, Prilipe, Čatež ob Savi, Gabrje pri Dobovi, Brežice and Loče) tracked down and arrested 49 Burundian nationals, 25 Bangladeshi nationals, 15 Iraqi nationals, 15 Afghan nationals, three Indian nationals, two Chinese nationals and a Turkish national, and in the area of the Črnomelj Police Station (Podklanec, Damelj), 14 Burundian nationals, an Afghan national and a Pakistani national were found. Police proceedings against foreigners who illegally crossed the state border are still pending.
In the last three days, the Operative Communication Centre of the Celje Police Directorate received 13 calls from citizens related to matters of border affairs and foreigners.
Police officers from the Podlehnik Police Station recently dealt with three Burundian nationals who were taken to an asylum centre, while the police officers from the Ormož Police Station dealt with two Egyptian nationals and one Algerian national who had also applied for international protection. Last weekend, police officers dealt with 94 illegal crossings of the state border in the area of the Koper Police Directorate.
The trend in the number of illegal crossings is rapidly increasing
In the year 2022, the highest number of crossings was by Afghan nationals. Citizens of countries that hardly came to our external Schengen border in the previous years are also appearing now. These are mainly citizens of Nepal and citizens of India, Cuba and Burundi, who abuse the visa-free regime to enter Serbia, from where they continue their journey towards the Central European countries. Among the police administrations, the Koper Police Directorate is the most heavily burdened with illegal crossings. At the beginning of this year, the number of illegal border crossings also increased in the area of the Novo mesto Police Directorate. The main routes of irregular migrations bring migrants to these two parts of Slovenia, the Border Police Sector stated some time ago in a report on irregular migration in Slovenia.
Sara Bertoncelj
