Belarusian border guards again prevented illegal immigrants from crossing the border between Belarus and the EU

April 27, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Border guards have once again thwarted an attempt to illegally cross the border of Belarus with Latvia in the Braslav district and detained a group of illegal migrants, Denis Glebko, assistant head of the Polotsk Border Detachment for Media Relations, told a BELTA correspondent. Late in the evening of April 26, a border patrol moving along the Belarusian-Latvian border detained two citizens from the former USSR countries. The two men, born in 1976 and 1991, intended to illegally enter Latvia and then travel to Belgium. It turned out that the older of the detainees had been to EU countries several times. He traveled there on both tourist and work visas, and then applied to the relevant authorities with a request to be recognized as a refugee. While his application was being processed, he lived on social benefits, sometimes working odd jobs. Since there were no legal grounds for recognizing him as a refugee, the migration services denied him and offered him to leave the country of stay. At the same time, the failed refugee received a plane ticket and about $4,000 for pocket money from the authorities. His last trip for refugee status was to Germany last year. This time, the unfortunate migrants failed to obtain a visa to enter the EU, and they decided to illegally cross the border. A check is being conducted on this fact. Border violators face deportation and a fine of up to Br5 million each. In mid-April, servicemen of the Polotsk Border Detachment also detained three illegal migrants attempting to enter EU countries. According to Denis Glebko, to prevent attempts of illegal border crossing and smuggling, the groups on duty directly at the border have been reinforced with cadets from the Border Guard Institute. -0-