Members of law enforcement agencies must stand their ground more firmly now than ever before due to the intensifying migration pressure and the coronavirus epidemic, the Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister said on Wednesday on the public service television news channel M1.

György Bakondi said that while nation states in the Balkans have closed down their borders in the interest of halting the spread of the coronavirus, illegal migration is ongoing.

There are more than 130,000 immigrants in transit on the Balkans route at present. In Hungary this year, police officers have apprehended as many people smugglers as during the whole year last year, tens of thousands are trying to forcefully break through the Greek-Turkish border, and the influx to the Greek islands where there are more than 42,000 migrants at present continues, he said.

He stressed that migration is now posing an additional serious risk as the coronavirus has also appeared among illegal immigrants.

(MTI)