A van designed to look like a Border Guard vehicle was detained last night in the Skaune Parish of the Kraslava Administrative District of Latvia and was found to be carrying 13 illegal migrants. This was reported to the LETA News Agency by the National Border Guard.
Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said on Latvian Television that only two traffickers were found in the vehicle – the driver and one passenger. Neither was a citizen of Latvia, the minister added.
Kozlovskis went on to say that there seems to be a vast network of migrant smugglers operating in Latvia and that this is a business that is worth billions. He referred to a recent case in Aizkraukle: “If these persons had managed to carry their plan out, that would have meant huge income, and so apparently they are prepared to take the risk.”
The interior minister praised border guards for their tireless and professional work, which has led to frequent and regular detentions of smugglers and their clients. He said that the migrant smuggling industry is international in scope, but it cannot be ruled out that there are citizens of Latvia who have been taking part in the process.
Illegal border crossers tend to arrive in waves, Kozlovskis said. There are days when everything on the border is calm, but on other days large numbers of border crossers are apprehended. More than 5,000 have been caught so far this year in Latvia.
The aforementioned case involving Aizkraukle involved a large group of illegal migrants and two traffickers who led the authorities on a chase from the Belarusian border to the town of Aizkraukle on October 8 of this year. The migrants were being transported in a van that was painted to resemble a police vehicle and was equipped with fake license plates.
Source: BNS
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