Belarus detains 480 border violators in 2022

January 23, BPN. The Belarusian State Border Committee has said 480 border violators were detained in Belarus last year, a 50.94 percent increase from 2021.

A total of 2,043 people violated state border legislation, 10.02 percent more than a year earlier.

Fifty-two people suspected of “extremist activities” were detected trying to enter Belarus.

Fighting against transnational organized crime, border guards – alone and in cooperation with other security agencies – broke up 50 criminal rings chains, including 31 illegal migration ring and 19 drug trafficking rings.

A total of 69 organizers and facilitators of transnational organized crime were detained in 2022.

Last year, border guards seized more than 167 kilograms of drugs. That was an increase by a factor of 47 as compared with 2021. The committee explained this by pointing at the removal of COVID-19 restrictions and a surge in drug traffic from the EU and Ukraine.

That statement stands in sharp contrast with police reports. All major drug busts in Belarus last year involved illicit drugs smuggled from Russia, a senior anti-trafficking police official said at a news conference in Minsk on December 27. Police blocked 26 drug trafficking channels in the first 11 months of the year. All those channels were controlled by Russians, said Siarhiej Haradziecki, deputy chief of the Main Directorate for Drug Control and Fight Against Human Trafficking.