Northern Macedonia Police Discover 78 Migrants to a Truck

Northern Macedonia police have banned 78 migrants while being transported illegally in a Skopje license truck. Migrants have stopped near the town of Ship while believed to have entered illegally from Greece. The driver of the vehicle, a Macedonian citizen from Veles, has been detained and questioned by police for illegally carrying migrants. The origin of banned immigrants is not yet known.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tony Angelovski says the number of migrants entering northern Macedonia last days is in normal numbers and that despite tensions at the Greek-Turkish border, there is still no large influx of them towards northern Macedonia.

The situation on the southern border has not changed. We have a standard number of attempts to illegally enter our country. I can say that citizens do not need to worry, as police units are willing to intervene in the event of need”, Angelovski has declared.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bujar Osmani has said that institutions are ready for any new wave of migrants, and that they are therefore in co-ordination with Frontex and member states of the European Union.

“We are in constant co-ordination with European Union member states and with our partners we have been monitoring the situation since the issue began to deteriorate. Our institutions are willing to deal with a possible hypothetical wave of refugees”, Osmani stressed.

Northern Macedonia has been part of what has been known as the Balkan “road” for migrants and refugees who have been aiming to reach some European Union country.

According to the latest data, in the first three weeks of January alone, about 1,365 migrants have been sent to the detention centre, since they have illegally entered northern Macedonia.

The largest wave of migrants, Northern Macedonia experienced in 2015 and 2016, when tens of thousands of migrants entered the country. In the border areas with Greece were also registered clashes with security forces, while residents of surrounding municipalities had strongly prevented the establishment of camps for their housing.