The number of illegal migrants caught trying to pass through Slovakia en route to western Europe has been increasing, with the figure for those caught almost doubling compared to the same period last year, reported the Pravda daily on Tuesday. A total of 498 illegal migrants were detained in Slovakia in the first six months of last year, while 907 were caught in the same period this year. Meanwhile, as many as 89 illegal migrants were detained in only four days last week, with the main country of origin being Syria, with 59 migrants originating from there. Others came from Iraq (eight), Afghanistan (seven), Sudan (six), India (three) and the Ivory Coast (two), with one person each from Guinea, Haiti, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso.

Prime Minister Robert Fico has reacted to the increase, pledging that Slovakia's borders will be guarded more closely; not only those with Ukraine and Hungary, from where most of the migrants arrive, but also the border with the Czech Republic. "We're monitoring the [Hungarian] border very intensively, as this concerns a risk linked to a huge number of migrants that are currently in Hungary", said Fico.

As many as 60,000 illegal migrants are thought to have crossed into Hungary since the beginning of this year. People who live in parts of Slovakia near the Hungarian border have noticed that security has been stepped up. However, security analyst Ivo Samson noted that it will difficult to stop people from crossing the Slovak-Hungarian border, which is around 650 kilometres long and can't be fully guarded. "They don't want to stay in Slovakia because there aren't such social advantages here as those seen in western countries. They don't have any relatives in Slovakia who could look after them. There isn't even a single mosque here, so they lack a cultural background", added Samson.

Gavin Shoebridge Foto: TASR