Czech foreign police check trains
A year ago, from January to April, also over four months, there were fewer such «transit emigrants» – only 720 people. But these are only official figures – those who were arrested. It is clear that in reality many more people were traveling through the Czech Republic, and some of them stayed in the republic after all. Why did the number of illegal emigrants increase?
«This growth is caused primarily by the fact that more citizens of Kosovo are traveling through the Czech Republic, they have become more active in moving to Germany. The number of emigrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq has increased,» – says Vladimir Takac, head of the risk analysis department of the Czech Republic's foreign police.
Citizens of Arab states and North African countries are going to live in comfortable Europe. As a rule, their final destination is Germany or France. First, these people come to Hungary, there they ask for asylum, get documents, but do not stay in the country. Those who want to get to Germany travel through Slovakia to the Czech Republic, and from there to German cities.
Of course, Hungary suffers much more than the Czech Republic. In January of this year, about 12 thousand refugees came to this country. The Hungarian authorities are trying to somehow cope with the flow of people, but so far they are not particularly successful. Most emigrants enter Hungary through Serbia, which is not part of the Schengen zone.
Czech authorities, observing the situation in Hungary, fear that sooner or later many more people will come to the Czech Republic than now. Moreover, many emigrants may use the country as a permanent or temporary refuge, that is, simply stay to live there. According to current rules, if someone came to the Czech Republic from Hungary, the police deport him back. But if someone came to Germany from the Czech Republic, he is deported to the Czech Republic. A vicious circle arises, and the number of illegals in the country does not decrease at all.
The Czech authorities are negotiating with colleagues from Hungary and Serbia to send their police officers to these countries. They will help «guard» the borders. Thus, it will become better for everyone. But for now, these are just plans.
And now the Czech police, its analytical departments, are dealing with the question not of where, but how refugees enter the country. «We can state the fact that at the end of 2014 most refugees were caught by us on trains. Now they are traveling in the cargo compartments of trucks or intercity buses,» – says Katerina Rendlova, press secretary of the Czech foreign police.
As Radio Prague notes, until recently the police rarely checked buses. One reason is that it is possible to check documents on a train without stopping the railway transport. The train is moving, and police walk through it. As a result, a train from, say, Budapest to Prague arrives on time. But a bus has to be stopped. And this leads to certain inconveniences.
Student Agency – one of the largest Czech companies dealing with international transport – is clearly unhappy that illegals and police have «taken an interest» in their buses. «The checks carried out by the police create problems for our passengers. First of all, because buses have started arriving late as a result. Typically, by 15 minutes,» – reported Radka Šťávová from Student Agency.