In Bács-Kiskun County the border section not protected with a fence is guarded by a large contingent of police officers and soldiers as well as with cutting-edge equipment. The police use thermal imaging cameras, while the Hungarian Defence Forces also deploy drones and radars, the Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister said in Hercegszántó on Friday.
At a press conference, György Bakondi said the number of illegal border-crossings had increased on the Bács-Kiskun County section not protected with a fence, and the routes and composition of illegal immigrants had also changed.
He highlighted that they are observing the greatest activity in the region of the Serbian-Croatian-Hungarian triple border in Bács-Kiskun County; that is where most illegal border-crossers arrive as that section of the Hungarian border is not protected with a fence.
The settlements of Homorúd, Sárhát, Nagybaracska and Bátmonostor constitute the main direction of illegal movements, he added.
He recalled that the Bács-Kiskun County border section is 113 kilometres long, 102.5 kilometres of which are protected with a temporary security border fence. However, partly due to terrain conditions and game movements, on the remaining section of 10.5 kilometres it was not possible to build any kind of technical obstacle.
The Chief Security Advisor stressed that in the county in 2018, 3,477 persons had attempted to cross the border illegally. Last year, this number rose to 11,535, while in January this year already 1,353 persons have made illegal border-crossing attempts.
At the Hercegszántó border crossing station – which can only be used by passenger cars and is not open to heavy goods vehicles – they are not experiencing border breaches. However, at the Kelebia railway border crossing station, last year 1,328 persons attempted to cross the border illegally, while at the Tompa road border crossing point 376 persons committed border breaches.
According to Mr Bakondi, the former trend that illegal immigrants arriving in Serbia attempted to reach Western Europe via Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia has changed. Today migrants in large numbers are arriving in Serbia from Bosnia, they immediately move on to the territory of Vojvodina, the vicinity of the Hungarian border, and attempt to enter the European Union via typical main roads such as the Hercegszántó one.
He highlighted that there has also been a change in the composition of nationalities. While before mainly Afghans, Iranians and Pakistanis arrived, and Syrians, Iraqis and others only in smaller numbers, today most of them claim to be Syrian nationals again, as they did in 2015, and there is a relatively large number of people coming from North Africa via unknown routes.
Regarding the procedure, the Chief Security Advisor said it is similar to that followed at the border section protected with a fence, meaning that the apprehended individuals are warned and accompanied back to the temporary security border fence.
In answer to a question, Mr Bakondi said they are observing significant activity on the Balkans route, far more people are arriving than during an average January period. The number of people on this route is greatly affected by the number of Syrians and Afghans in Turkey.
He recalled that last year the Turkish authorities had apprehended some 500,000 illegal border-crossers, and there were certainly others who had slipped through border checks. At the same time, Afghan guest workers working in Iran have lost their jobs due to the deteriorating economic situation, and they are now considering trying their luck in Europe instead.
Mr Bakondi highlighted that, according to experiences, the nationality composition of those involved in people smuggling has also changed. Serbian and Hungarian people smugglers have been forced out by a relatively large number of illegal immigrants who have been awarded refugee status in Germany and Austria and are free to travel in the European Union with their “Convention passports”, he added.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)
