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HUNGARY-MIGRATION-SERBIA
Hungary stops dozens sneaking under border fence
BUDAPEST, Nov 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Hungarian police said Friday that they
had caught dozens of people squeezing through a tunnel dug under a fence on
the border with Serbia.
Police said border patrols had uncovered two tunnels near Asotthalom and
Csikeria in the south, where a steel fence has separated Hungary from Serbia
for the past four years.
“This time police found two tunnels dug by hand, without support
structures, threatening the lives of those using them,” a statement said.
Forty-four people were stopped at Asotthalom, but police did not specify
which country they were from.
Police said the tunnel near Asotthalom was 34m (112 ft) long, while the
one near Csikeria ran for 21.7m.
Authorities have filled up the tunnels, which were built recently and with
entrances and exits hidden under foliage.
Police said people were increasingly seeking to enter EU member Hungary
again, many wanting to travel north to richer European countries.
Last week alone, more than 600 people were intercepted compared with some
80 in the same week in 2018.
Ankara launched a military operation last month to push Syrian Kurdish
forces back from the border and create a “safe zone” to take in some of the
3.6 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.
It has threatened to “open the gates” for them to flee to Europe unless
more international support was provided.
Nationalist premier Viktor Orban has said Budapest stood ready to work
with Ankara to “avoid masses of migrants arriving at Hungary’s southern
border”.
Greece has again become a key point of entry for asylum-seekers to Europe.
Athens says over 37,000 asylum-seekers are on the islands, and hundreds
more arrive daily.
Using the so-called Balkan route they seek to travel on northwards.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1704 hrs