Some 2,500 foreign citizens tried to cross the Romanian border illegally in the first six months of 2017. This is almost five times higher than the numbers reported in the same period of 2016, namely 507.

Some 1,437 of these migrants were caught while trying to enter Romania and 1,037 while trying to leave the country, according to data presented by the Romanian Border Police.

“There has been an increase in the number of people who tried to enter the country illegally via the border with Serbia at the beginning of this year, compared to last year, which led to strengthening of the border surveillance. These measures discouraged migrant groups, so that at the end of the analyzed period the attempts to enter illegally in Romania through the "green borders" dropped considerably,” reads the Border Police’s report.

Most of those involved in illegal migration were organized in groups. Thus, the Police caught 353 groups of migrants in the first half of 2017, and identified 134 people smugglers. They’ve also caught 80 people, 24 of whom Romanian citizens and 56 foreign citizens, who were acting as guides.

Most of the illegal migrants came from countries such as Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, India, Kosovo, Bangladesh, and Palestine.

Over 1,600 foreigners tried to cross Romania’s borders illegally in 2016

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Politia de Frontiera on Facebook)