STA, 5 April 2018 - The number of persons who entered Slovenia illegally in the first quarter of 2017 was up by 203% year-on-year to 612, the latest police figures show. The police have also noted that there has been a change in the nationality structure of illegal immigrants.
The biggest number of illegal crossings of the national border in the first quarter was recorded in the area covered by the Koper Police Department, followed by the Novo Mesto Police Department.
The biggest number of persons dealt with by the police this year were Algerians, Pakistani and Moroccans, while last year the majority were Afghans, Turks, Kosovars and Pakistanis.
Certain media have recently reported on an increased number of illegal crossings of border in the south-eastern region of Bela Krajina, more specifically in the area of Črnomelj on the river Kolpa.
But the local authorities said yesterday that the Interior Ministry had told them that "considering the number of migrants, the situation is not alarming, so there is no need for the police to step up their measures".
According to the ministry, the police recorded 153 illegal crossings of the border in the Črnomelj area this year, most of them in February (65), while there were no illegals recorded last year.
The police recorded one case of a migrant breaking into a building to spend a night there. A wood shed was damaged in another case by a fire that illegal migrants started to warm themselves.
There were no reports of and no cases of general endangerment or violence committed by illegal migrants in the first quarter of the year.
The police returned to Croatia a total of 105 foreigners who entered Slovenia illegally in the first quarter, down from 132 in the same period last year.
In the first quarter of the year, 447 people or 73% of those who entered Slovenia illegally immediately asked for international protection, the police added in the statistical report obtained by the STA.
