Prague, March 30 (CTK) – The police uncovered 262 foreigners working illegally and 31 staying illegally in the Czech Republic all of whom now face expulsion during a recent three-day raid, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec and Police President Tomas Tuhy told journalists yesterday.
The checks were held in all regions of the country with the involvement of over 1200 police officers, including those from Germany and Poland, Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) said.
Along with almost 300 foreigners who are to be expelled, the police found another 25 people with forged documents.
Another 350 foreigners committed some minor delicts. Five nationally wanted people were found within the raid, Chovanec said.
“From my viewpoint, the figures are very high,” Chovanec said.
He stressed that this was no “hunt for foreigners” and that this type of police actions would continue.
Chovanec said the results of the raid had shown that Polish Schengen visas and residence permits were considerably abused, mainly by Ukrainians and Moldovans, for illegal work.
The trend of forged and altered travel documents was also confirmed. They are mainly used by Ukrainians for illegal work, he added.
The director of the foreigner police, Milan Majer, said the raid was not unique.
This is a part of the routine police work, he added.
“Some 10,000 such checks are conducted in a month,” Majer said.
The relevant changes to the legislation are prepared in the Chamber of Deputies, Chovanec said.
The law on foreigners’ stay deals with the punishment of the employers who bring in foreigners who then cause problems.
Another amendment relates to employment agencies, he added.
“They are causing increasing trouble because there are over 2,000 such agencies in the Czech Republic, which is quite a high figure,” Chovanec said.
In a different raid in early March, the police detained 85 people in the store of the firm Rohlik.cz in Prague, 74 of whom were then expelled.
Chovanec said he had spoken with the firm owners.
He said they had not complained about the police action, but wanted to be instructed on the methods with which to hire foreign workers legally.
“We made a legal analysis of the case. I want to put it clearly that we are standing by the police action,” Chovanec said.
