WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland may introduce checks at the border with Germany amid concerns over a surge in illegal migrants, a government spokesperson told Polsat News late on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Poland introduced checks on some vehicles crossing the Slovak border, where border guards suspect they could be carrying illegal migrants, said Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski.
Slovakia has been struggling with a surge in illegal migrants. The number of illegal migrants detained in Slovakia has increased nine-fold from a year ago to more than 27,000 so far this year, according to the country’s interior ministry.
Meanwhile, Germany said late on Tuesday that it would enforce stronger border controls with Poland and the Czech Republic to help fight human trafficking.
“We are afraid that at any moment there will be traffic from Italy,” Polish government spokesperson Piotr Muller told private broadcaster Polsat News, referring to illegal migrants.
“That is why we are considering some controls on the Polish-German border on our side, because we are afraid of the traffic that will come from Italy.”
Thousands of migrants travelling on boats from North Africa have landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa this month.
Germany’s move to tighten border controls comes after Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Saturday on the Polish government to clarify allegations about a cash-for-visas deal for migrants.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Michael Perry)
