Border controls: Federal police arrest 266 smugglers in four weeks
Published: Friday, Nov 17th 2023, 18:50
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The Federal Police have detected more than 11,000 unauthorized entries and arrested 266 smugglers during their checks at the German borders within a month. As the Federal Police Headquarters in Potsdam announced on Friday evening, according to provisional figures, the forces were also able to identify 3,528 people wanted at the borders with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland during the same period and execute 670 outstanding arrest warrants. In addition, 173 violations of the Weapons Act and 79 violations of the Explosives Act were detected, it said.
On October 16, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) initially announced stationary border controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland for ten days and then extended them several times. She justified this step with the fight against irregular immigration and people smuggling. Checks have been carried out at the land border with Austria since fall 2015. Fixed border controls are not actually planned in the Schengen area.
As reported by the Federal Police Headquarters, a total of 11,029 unauthorized entries were detected at the four border sections between 16 October and 16 November. 4790 people were affected by entry-preventing or "residence-terminating measures". From the beginning of January to the end of October, around 267,000 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time - around 67 percent more than in the same period last year.
©Keystone/SDA
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