Latvia says pressure on frontier with Belarus remains high

Pressure remains high in Latvia on the EU's external border with neighbouring Belarus, according to the Latvian authorities on Wednesday.

Work remains challenging, Border Guard chief Guntis Pujāts told Latvian television.

Border guards are initiating an average of eight to ten criminal cases per week for organising irregular migration - both for transporting people across the border and for onward travel to other European countries, he said.

Latvia recently registered a significant increase in the number of unauthorized border crossing attempts and 146 people were prevented from illegally crossing the border from Belarus on Monday, Pujāts said.

The migrants they came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, India, Sri Lanka and other countries, according to Pujāts. Latvia is usually not their final destination - they mostly aim for Germany.

According to investigative research by a Latvian news magazine, smugglers are paid up to $1,600 (€11,000) per person to transport migrants from the border to Germany.

Also, since summer, those tring to cross the border have become more aggressive, Pujāts said. On one occasion, a border guard was attacked, and in four cases the officers had to use firearms to stop cars.

In addition, the Belarusian side repeatedly threw stones at the Latvian border guards.

Latvia, like Poland and Lithuania, accuses Belarus' authoritarian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately and systematically bringing migrants to the EU's external border to generate political tensions.

Several countries reinforced their borders with Belarus in response.