Number of attempted illegal border crossings in Hungary doubled

Budapest - Hungarian security authorities have arrested around 145,000 illegal migrants at the border since January. This means that the number has more than doubled compared to the same period last year of 57,000, according to a statement by the Budapest government on Wednesday.

"While the illegal immigrants in the past came mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, today many of them also come from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Tunisia," said the security chief for border protection, György Bakondi. In addition, since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, around 10,000 to 13,000 migrants per day have been able to enter Hungary. The number of arrested smugglers has also doubled to around 1,000.

In response to the increase, the government decided to strengthen border protection along the fence with Serbia and Croatia. This includes a specially trained unit of security forces.

Source: Junge Freiheit