Police numbers boosted to tackle illegal migration on southern border

Budapest, February 11 (MTI) – Police numbers have been boosted by 136 along the border in south Hungary to tackle the increase in illegal immigrants since last September, a police official said on Wednesday.

Head of the border police department at the national police headquarters Gizella Vas said that, in addition, 30 officers have been sent to work at villages and towns near the Hungarian-Serbian border in order to make sure that local residents feel safe.

Even more police officers will be deployed if necessary, she said.

As well as increasing the number of patrols in areas between official border crossings and the number of administrators for migrant policing procedures, new equipment has been deployed, including fingerprint readers and transport vehicles, Vas said.

Heated containers have been set up, including a health inspection station in Szeged, and tents have been borrowed from the army. After 1,400 illegal migrants were stopped near Roszke last Saturday, a heated hangar was rented to accommodate them, she added.

She said Austrian and German police have also offered their help in patrolling the European Union’s external border.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters