Since beginning of year, 195 Ukrainian citizens have been detained in Poland for helping illegal migrants
Between January and the end of October 2024, 195 Ukrainians were detained in Poland for assisting illegal migrants in illegally crossing the border with Belarus.
This was reported by the Polish Border Guard in response to an information request from Ukrinform, Censor.NET reports.
According to the representative of the press service of the Border Guard of Poland Krzysztof Grzech, from January 1 to October 29 this year, Polish services detained a total of 377 so-called accomplices in the illegal crossing of the border with Belarus by illegal migrants, more than half of them - 195 (51%) are citizens of Ukraine.
"In total, since the beginning of the so-called migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border in the summer of 2021, Polish services have detained 1754 accomplices in illegal border crossing with Belarus, of whom 740 (42%) are citizens of Ukraine. In particular, last year 295 Ukrainians were detained in Poland for such activities, in 2022 - 174 Ukrainian citizens, and in 2021 - 76 such people," Polish border guards noted.
The Polish Border Guard also reported that 38 Ukrainian citizens were arrested for such activities this year.
Since the beginning of the migration crisis in 2021, a measure of restraint in the form of temporary arrest has been applied to a total of 166 Ukrainians.
After detention, Polish authorities usually deport accomplices who are third-country nationals. In some cases, they are also subject to temporary detention for three months.
As a reminder, an average of several dozen illegal migrants attempt to illegally cross the Belarusian-Polish border every day. They often demonstrate aggression towards Polish patrols, throwing stones and tree branches at them.
In May 2024, a Polish soldier was stabbed by an illegal migrant at the border and later died in hospital.
