A year has passed since temporary controls were introduced on the Polish-German border in the Lubusz and Lower Silesian Voivodeships. During this time, Border Guard officers, supported by the Police, Military Gendarmerie and Territorial Defence Forces, carried out checks of nearly one million people and approximately half a million vehicles.
The operations are being conducted along one of the busiest sections of the state border, where intensive passenger and transit traffic takes place every day. Officers delegated from other Border Guard units are also taking part in the operations.
Nearly 700 foreign nationals refused entry to Poland
According to Border Guard data, nearly 700 foreign nationals were refused entry to Poland over the past twelve months. The most common reason was the lack of documents authorising them to cross the border.
The largest groups among those refused entry were citizens of Ukraine, Syria, Turkey and Russia.
270 detained for illegally crossing the border
Officers also conducted operations targeting illegal migration. Over the course of the year, 270 people who attempted to cross the border illegally in the direction of Germany were detained.
The statistics presented show that they were primarily citizens of Afghanistan, Georgia and Uzbekistan.
Organisers of illegal migration detained
Ten people suspected of assisting in the practice were also detained in connection with organising illegal border crossings.
Those detained included citizens of Ukraine, Poland and Moldova.
Controls also uncovered other offences
The annual tally shows that the controls also uncovered numerous other violations of the law. Since the controls began, 350 people wanted by the authorities or suspected of various offences have been detained.
The offences uncovered included vehicle theft, document forgery and the smuggling of goods. The total value of the property and goods secured exceeded PLN 3.2 million.
Border Guard sums up a year of operations
The Border Guard stresses that the annual summary confirms the effectiveness of cooperation between its officers, the Police, the Military Gendarmerie and the Territorial Defence Forces. According to the services, the controls helped strengthen security along Poland’s western border and enabled numerous violations of the law to be detected.