An alleged people-smuggler was arrested by police in North Macedonia this week after authorities found 26 illegal immigrants in the back of his truck, which was heading to the country’s border with Serbia.
The driver of the truck is suspected of being part of a migrant smuggling network and was stopped in the town of Stip during a checkpoint, where officers then found the 26 migrants hiding in the back of the vehicle.
Police claim that the migrants found in the vehicle were from several countries including Egypt, Pakistan, India, and Syria and were transferred to local asylum accommodation after the driver of the vehicle was arrested, Ekathimerini reports.
North Macedonian police say the number of people crossing into the country illegally while travelling the Balkan route to Western Europe has doubled this year and that around 11,000 have been stopped by police.
Earlier this year, the European Union border agency Frontex warned that the number of migrants travelling along the Balkan route has increased significantly, stating in June that numbers on the route have increased by 167 per cent compared to last year.
The agency stated that of the 86,420 illegal arrivals to the European Union in the first four months of this year, 40,675 travelled along the Balkan route.
“The Western Balkan route saw 40,675 illegal crossings, or half of the total number recorded at EU’s borders. This is nearly three times the figure from the same period of last year. The main nationalities on this route included Syrians and Afghans. Most of the people detected had been in the Western Balkans already for some time before seeking to enter the EU,” the agency said.
Over the last several years some migrants have died while crossing the Balkan route in the back of vans and trucks, such as in November of last year when seven migrants were killed after the driver of the vehicle they were in lost control and crashed.