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Austria has extended its border controls with Slovakia by a further twenty days, as announced by the Ministry of the Interior on Friday.
Previously, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy and Slovenia had already extended the controls introduced at the beginning of October. The focus of the measures is the fight against people smuggling, it said.
19 smugglers have already been arrested at the border
The Ministry of the Interior said that since controls started on October 4, the police have been able to apprehend 19 individuals smugglers at the Slovakian border and halt about 180 illegal immigrants. Border controls with the Czech Republic had already been extended by twenty days on October 28.
“The police have to be faster than the smugglers. That’s why we have started border point checks before the smugglers change their routes. The numerous arrests show that the fight against these criminals is successful,” the press release quoted Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) as saying.
In addition to border controls with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the police have been carrying out checks at the Hungarian and Slovenian borders since 2015 with the Austrian Armed Forces. Border area surveillance with Italy has been stepped up.
- source: k.at/picture: hp
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