Migrants in fresh attempts to cross into Poland from Belarus: officials

Forty foreign nationals attempted to cross illegally into Poland from Belarus during the last 24 hours, the Polish Border Guard service reported on Tuesday.

The Poland-Belarus border crossing at Kuźnica.

Photo: PAP/Marcin Onufryjuk

It said on Twitter that a group of 23 illegal migrants were detained on Tuesday morning after crossing the border near the Kuźnica checkpoint in the east of the country.

They hailed from countries including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Yemen, the Border Guard tweeted, adding that it on Tuesday prevented a total of 30 attempts to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally.

Since the start of this year, there have been 2,173 attempts to cross illegally into Poland from Belarus, the border agency's data showed.

W dn.14.03 na terytorium🇵🇱próbowało nielegalnie przedostać się z🇧🇾40 cudzoziemców.
Dziś zatrzymano 30 nielegalnych imigrantów w tym 23 na odcinku #PSGKuźnica Zatrzymani to ob.Iraku,Iranu,Syrii i Jemenu.
W tym roku było 2173 próby nielegalnego przedostania się z🇧🇾na terytorium🇵🇱. pic.twitter.com/UYjzVXJ7dF

— Straż Graniczna (@Straz_Graniczna) March 15, 2022

To stave off an influx of illegal migrants from Belarus, Poland has introduced new, stricter border protection rules and is building a 5.5-metre-high, 180-kilometre-long protective wall along its frontier with the Russian ally.

Last year, the European Union, NATO and the United States accused Belarus' strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko of orchestrating a migrant crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border in retaliation for Western sanctions against his regime.

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Source: IAR, PAP