{"id":136890,"date":"2025-05-06T13:03:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T10:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/136890\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"vilnius-arrests-seven-foreigners-without-passports-after-alleged-crossing-from-belarus","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/136890\/","title":{"rendered":"Vilnius arrests seven foreigners without passports after alleged crossing from Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (vsat.lrv.lt)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

May 6, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Lithuanian border guards arrested seven foreigners without passports, claiming to be Somali nationals, on May 4 in northern Lithuania’s \u0160iauliai district, the State Border Guard Service reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 20-year-old Ukrainian driver was transporting a group in a minivan with Czech license plates. Foreigners allegedly crossed the Belarusian-Latvian border irregularly and were heading west without necessary documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The driver is under arrest and is awaiting a custody hearing. Lithuanian authorities have launched an investigation into human trafficking. The driver may face up to six years in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report said the foreigners would be handed over to Latvian border guards for processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tensions at the Belarusian-Latvian border escalated last month with irregular crossings by third-country surging from 118 in March to 1,666 in April as the European Union did not allow at least 4,376 people to cross irregularly via Belarus, accounting for about half of all attempts recorded since January. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU has thwarted more than 9,600 irregular border crossings <\/em>by third-country foreigners via Belarus since the start of 2025, including more than 600 attempts targeting Lithuania, according to Pozirk<\/em>\u2019s analysis of border guards\u2019 data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people desperate to get to the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus\u2019 western neighbors call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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