Prague, April 24 (CTK) – The Czech Republic will send 30 police to Greece on Friday, Police President Tomas Tuhy said on Czech Television yesterday, adding that they will join the programme of the European border agency Frontex and assist in returning and transport of migrants to Turkey.
Eleven Czech police now operate in Greece.
In the Questions of Vaclav Moravec on the public Czech Television (CT), Tuhy said the 30 Czech police will complement the German, Austrian and Slovak police and secure the “escorts of migrants” to Turkey.
The 11 Czech police who are already in Greece check and register the migrants.
Tuhy said the police have a database of 300 police members who know foreign languages and who can be be sent abroad if need be.
The establishment of a unit of police officers with international experience who would go to foreign missions was mentioned by Interior Minister Milan Chovanec in February.
The Czech police have sent dozens of soldiers and police to Hungary, Slovenia adn Macedonia to help manage the mgirant crisis there.
Besides the 30 police officers, the Czech Republic offered Greece in March humanitarian aid and ten experts to help deal with asylum matters.
The Czech government is pushing for a more consistent protection of the EU outer border, but it rejects the redistribution of refugees.
According to Eurostat, 1.25 million people applied for asylum in the EU last year. Of them, about 442,000 did so in Germany, 156,000 in Sweden and 174,000 in Hungary. The Czech Republic has received 1235 applications.
From June 17, 2015, until Saturday midnight, the police detained 3437 migrants without regular documents on Czech territory.
