Prague, March 14 (CTK) – The Czech police detained 11 foreigners who stayed in the Czech Republic illegally and revealed 154 offences at level crossings during a 24-hour check of trains and railway stations from Thursday till Friday morning last week, police chief Martin Hrinko told reporters yesterday.
The police also registered seven cases of sprayers and other cases of aggression or drug possession.
The illegal migrants, from Iran, Pakistan and one from Morocco, were found on trains and at railway stations. They were transported to detention centres and proceedings on their expulsion were launched.
Another detained foreigner was a Slovak man, who committed the crime of obstructing the execution of an official decision by his stay in the Czech Republic.
A total of 2719 police officers took part in the control sting code-named “24 Blue.” They checked more than 10,000 people, over 2000 railway stations, 1248 passenger trains and 356 goods trains.
They mainly revealed the cases of wrong crossing of railway crossings by drivers and pedestrians.
“A crushing majority of these offences was committed by pedestrians… However, drivers of motor vehicles were no exception,” Hrinko said.
The police also saved the life of a 24-year-woman who wanted to commit a suicide by jumping under a train. The engine driver took note of her and alerted the police.
Hrinko pointed out that the main problem the police had to deal with in the past, metal thefts, disappeared thanks to an amendment to the law on waste.
“We have not uncovered a single person stealing iron. We are one of the European countries that adopted the respective law and thus categorically prevented thieves from stealing metal items, since the sale of their loot to scrap-metal salvage points was made very difficult,” he added.
In 2013, the police seized 3800 kilos of stolen metal, while in 2014 it was even 200 kilos more.
Metal thefts annually caused damage worth millions of crowns to the Czech Railways (CD) state rail carrier.
($1=24.398 crowns)
