Just 24-hours after Sweden re-introduced strict, compulsory ID checks along its border with Denmark the number of asylum seekers making the crossing fell dramatically, local police report.
Police in the southern Swedish region of Skåne said they had registered just 48 migrants arriving in Sweden on Monday. Excluding New Year’s Day, there had been at least 200 per day since December 29th.
“One can say that it’s a sharp drop. But it’s only been one day (since the controls were introduced), and we can’t exclude that refugees will find other ways of entering Sweden,” police spokeswoman Ewa-Gun Westford told thelocal.com.
As Breitbart London has reported, all train, bus and ferry passengers travelling from Denmark to Sweden are now required to show photo identification before being allowed entry in a drastic move by the Swedish government to stem an unprecedented migrant flood across its porous border.
The measures are aimed at keeping out undocumented migrants and come after Sweden — which has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other European nation — said it could no longer cope with the unregulated flow of new arrivals.
A temporary fence has also been erected at Copenhagen airport’s Kastrup station, where trains will be stopped for the mandatory controls, to prevent people from trying to slip across the tracks.
The new moves were flagged by Sweden last November but only now are they being put to the test. Sweden – which has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other EU nation – said it needed to take fresh steps to end the human flood.
Official estimates suggest up to 190,000 asylum seekers came to the country of 10 million people 2015.
For its part, Denmark confirmed the immediate introduction of random controls at the German border, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Monday.
“When other Nordic countries seal their borders it can have major consequences for Denmark,” Rasmussen said, referring to the Swedish measure.
“It can lead to more asylum seekers,” he told reporters in Copenhagen.
The Swedish coast guard said it was prepared for the possibility that migrants may now try to sneak across the Öresund strait that divides Denmark and Sweden.
“We have to be prepared for the fact that people may seek other routes than the (Öresund) bridge or ferries, regardless of whether it is a Danish network behind this or individual initiatives,” coast guard spokesman Mattias Lindholm told news agency TT.
Sweden has yet to officially register any migrants arriving on clandestine boats across the Baltic.
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