AFP/ GETTY Migrants were found smuggled in containers making their way to Europe

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Serbian authorities arrested three men on suspicion of people trafficking after 77 migrants were found hidden in cargo vehicles, the defence ministry said today. Serbia was a pinchpoint for migrant making their way to Europe last year, when hundreds of thousands of people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia journeyed up through the Balkans to reach the European Union. That route was effectively closed off in March, but since then Serbian authorities estimate a further 110,000 migrants have passed through the country, many crossing its now sealed border with Hungary illegally.

Serbian authorities arrested three men on suspicion of people trafficking after 77 migrants were found hidden in cargo vehicles

Members of a military and police task force detained two men in central Serbia attempting to smuggle 36 migrants from Afghanistan and Mali in the back of a large van, the ministry said. In a separate incident in the same region, 41 migrants were found in the cargo compartment of a truck with German registration plates after its Serbian driver was stopped. According to the UN refugee agency, around 7,000 migrants are stranded in camps in Serbia, many having paid smugglers to get there from Turkey via Macedonia or Bulgaria.

GETTY Migrants queue to receive free lunch near a derelict customs warehouse on Christmas Day in Belgrade

Since its creation in July, the task force - which patrols the borders with Macedonia and Bulgaria - has prevented around 18,000 migrants from entering the country and arrested 114 traffickers, the ministry said. It comes as Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Serbia’s neighbour Hungary, called for the borders to be closed. Mr Orban was speaking in the wake of the Berlin terror attack which saw 12 people killed and 48 people injured.

GETTY Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for the borders to be closed

Migrants go to extreme lengths to cross borders Fri, October 7, 2016 Desperate migrants fleeing Syria and surrounding places have been trying to sneak across borders in incredible ways. These include hiding in suitcases and sleeping next to car bonnets Play slideshow 1 of 40