Stefanovic: Police presence at border stepped up

BELGRAD - Serbian, Hungarian, Austrian and German police officials agreed in Belgrade on Monday to increase cooperation in preventing illegal migration.

The agreement was reached by Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, German Federal Police chief Dieter Roman, Hungarian National Police chief Karoly Papp and a delegation of the Austrian police.

Stefanovic told reporters after the meeting that aside from the regular border police at the Serbian-Hungarian border, the Gendarmerie and the general jurisdiction police will also be deployed soon.

The Serbian minister pointed out that he and his colleagues from Germany and Austria agreed to help Serbian and Hungarian police prevent illegal migration, and ensure technical equipment, namely thermal imaging camera.
Stefanovic underlined that the cooperation between criminal police departments will be simultaneously increased so as to detect smugglers, adding that four groups of smugglers were detected last year after transferring over 40 people across the border.

Answering reporters' questions, the Serbian minister said that migrants from Kosovo-Metohija possess certificates that are issued at the administrative line (between the province and Serbia proper), which they use until they reach the border with Hungary, and then they use false documents.

When asked about the reasons behind the soaring number of migrants, Stefanovic said that this is not a question for the police, because this kind of an analysis is not conducted by the police, adding that nevertheless, the reasons are certainly not of a security nature.

The minister urged migrants from Kosovo- Metohija not to sell their property and use the money to cross the border, because 99 percent of them will...