Border police apprehends nearly 122,000 violators in 2021
The Hungarian authorities apprehended nearly 122,000 illegal entrants and over 1,200 people smugglers last year, Gyorgy Bakondi, chief security advisor to the prime minister, told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Wednesday.
Bakondi noted 45,000 entered Hungary illegally in 2020.
In the first days of January alone, 860 border violators have been detained, he said.
“Migration routes into Europe continue to be busy,” Bakondi said, adding that “the countries protecting the European Union’s external borders” were under enormous pressure.
In 2021 a new migration route via Belarus and Poland emerged, he noted, calling this “a grave development”. He also warned that many Afghan, Indian, and Pakistani migrants were on their way to Europe via Turkey.