MigrationNews

Helicopter Assist in Catching Escaping Migrants

During the day, ie all Wednesday, the border guards detained 57 migrants from Belarus who crossed the border illegally, according to preliminary data. A total of 1,795 illegal migrants were detained on the border with Belarus from midnight Wednesday to Thursday this year.

The largest group of illegal violators was detained on Wednesday by the border guards of Gintaras Žagunis firewall near the village of Maciučiai in Šalčininkai district. These were 37 migrants who crossed the border from Belarus at the same time. There were two categories of foreigners in this group. 16 of them introduced themselves as Russian citizens from Chechnya and Dagestan. It may be several families with 8 minors. The rest of the detained group are men. 17 of them introduced themselves as Afghan citizens, 4 – from India. Of all those detained, a minority had documents.

Some Afghans and Indians, immediately disobeyed border guards and tried to flee. They were caught and detained by the border guards. Two runaway migrants, who were the last to be detained, tried to hide in cereal fields in the dark. It would be difficult to find their location on the ground at night, but this did not cause problems for SBGS helicopter pilots. They liaised with the ground border forces and directed them to the points where both migrants were hiding.