Germany, Poland and Czech Republic to carry out joint border patrols

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German police will conduct joint border patrols with Polish and Czech colleagues to combat people smuggling, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced on Friday.

“I am very grateful for the close cooperation with our neighbors Poland and the Czech Republic,” Faeser said in a statement, adding that the joint patrols will be conducted on the Polish and Czech territories, in order to detect and prevent unauthorized entries.

“Together, we want to dismantle the cruel business of smuggling gangs who make extreme profit from the plight of people, and smuggle them across borders in a life-threatening way,” she said.

Faeser said Germany’s new measures on the border region will also be closely coordinated with the two neighboring countries.

“With flexible and mobile controls at changing locations, we would like to prevent people smugglers. At the same time, we would like to ensure that the checks have as little impact as possible on people, commuters and commerce,” she said.

The German government has come under mounting pressure to tackle migration, as the number of unauthorized immigrants entering the country significantly increased recently, many of whom arrived via Poland or the Czech Republic.

Around 205,000 migrants applied for asylum in Germany between January and August this year, marking an increase of 77% compared with the same period last year. Many of them were Syrians and Afghans.

Local authorities are complaining they are facing a crisis in providing accommodation and social support to newly arrived asylum seekers.