Prague, July 27 (CTK) – The foreigner police detained a record high number of 91 illegal migrants in the Czech Republic from Friday until yesterday morning, foreigner police spokeswoman Katerina Rendlova told CTK Monday.
In the first half of this year, the police detained 3,018 illegal migrants, which si almost 50 percent more than last year.
The whole Europe is facing a strong wave of illegal refugees, mainly from the turbulent areas in North Africa and the Middle East.
Last week, 184 illegals migrants were found on Czech territory. Since mid-June when stricter security measures came into force, Czech police have detained 707 refugees.
“The highest number of the detained foreigners or 296 was reported in south Moravia, particularly in Brno and Breclav, followed by Prague (151 refugees),” Rendlova said.
More than a half of the 707 migrants are Syrians (375), followed by Afghanis (12), Iraqis and Pakistanis.
Compared with last year, the number of illegal refugees has considerably increased.
In the first half of 2014, the police detained 2,028 illegal migrants on Czech territory, while during the same period this year, it was 3,018, which means a 49-percent rise.
According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), some 150,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year, mainly in Italy and Greece, while about 1,900 died in the Mediterranean Sea on attempting to reach the European coast, which is twice more than during the same period last year.
Most of the refugees tried to escape war conflicts, violence, and suppression in their countries, while a major part comes from Syria, the U.N. says.
At the end of June, the EU member states rejected the refugee quotas proposed by the European Commission (EC) under which some 40,000 immigrants staying in Italy and Greece were to be redistributed among the whole EU. The EU countries, however, agreed to accept the same numbers of asylum seekers on a voluntary basis in the next two years.
The Czech government agreed to accept 1,500 refugees (1,100 from Italy and Greece and 400 from refugee camps in the Middle East) by the end of 2017. This year, 400 migrants should arrive in the 10.5-million Czech Republic, while in 2016 and 2017, it should be 700 and 400, respectively.
