2024-07-13 23:22:41
As reported by the Police Department, on July 12 around 5 p.m. Police officers stopped a Fiat Ducato car driven by a Romanian citizen (born in 2001) in Utena, Zarasu street.
Five Iranian citizens and thirteen Afghan citizens were found in the cargo compartment of the car.
All migrants found in the minibus and the driver of the car were handed over to VSAT officials of the Ministry of Interior.
The bus was stopped for inspection and the migrants were found by Utena county VPK officials.
According to initial data, the Fiat Ducato had Lithuanian license plates.
It turns out that the police officers stopped and checked the minibus with migrants driven by a Romanian not by chance, but based on the information provided by the border guards.
Giedrius Mišutis, representative of the State Border Guard Service lrytas.lt informed that after the arrest, the migrants and the man who transported them were delivered to the VSAT units.
“According to initial data, it was the so-called “Latvian road”. After illegally crossing the border in Latvia, migrants are later transported through Lithuania and Poland in various ways or try to reach Western Europe on their own. If the investigation proves that it was the case this time too, the migrants will be returned to the Latvian authorities according to the established procedure, as has been done hundreds of times so far. And the Romanian citizen will face trial in Lithuania,” said G. Mišutis.
According to the VSAT representative, a decrease in the flow of migrants via the “Latvian route” has been observed so far this year, but it has not completely stopped.
In the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year (the first half), 65 percent was recorded. decreased flow of migrants from Latvia. This year, 140 such foreigners were detained, compared to 398 last year.
Of the 140 migrants arrested this year, illegally trying to reach Western Europe through Lithuania, 65 people (46%) had escaped from Latvian accommodation centers for foreigners. In other words, they had applied for asylum in Latvia. These foreigners usually travel to Western Europe independently in small groups of 4-12 people.
The Romanian who transported the migrants through Lithuania had his country’s identity card with him. The document is in order and valid, so his very presence in Lithuania was legal.
As a result of this incident, a pre-trial investigation into the illegal transportation of people across the state border was initiated.
The Criminal Code specifies that whoever illegally transported a foreigner without a permanent residence in the Republic of Lithuania across the state border of the Republic of Lithuania or transported or concealed such a foreigner who illegally crossed the state border in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania shall be punished by a fine or arrest or imprisonment for up to six years.
A person who has committed the prescribed acts due to selfish motives, or if it has endangered a person’s life, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to eight years.
The person who organized the planned acts shall be punished by deprivation of liberty from four to ten years.
2024-07-13 23:22:41