A new transit route for the refugees heading
\ntowards Western Europe has been emerging as the Black Sea is being used more
\nand more by migrants in their attempt to reach Europe’s richest countries. In
\nthe past month, four boats carrying hundreds of migrants have been intercepted
\nby the Romanian border police in the Black Sea. Data show that most of the
\nmigrants are Syrians and Iraqis. Following their surveillance of the maritime
\nborder, the Coast Guard has intercepted a boat carrying 97 people who intended
\nto enter Romania illegally. Another boat with almost 120 people on board has
\nbeen stopped by the border police in the Black Sea, in the common
\nRomanian-Bulgarian patrolling area. The boat and its passengers have been taken
\nover by the Turkish authorities. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This is happening at a time when the number of
\nmigrants landing in Italy, their main gateway to Europe, has dropped
\nsignificantly in recent months. August saw 3,914 new arrivals in Italy, 80%
\nfewer compared with last year. The number of migrants started dropping in July
\nafter the Italian authorities decided to restrict the flow of migrants by
\nconcluding agreements with the Libyan local authorities. The Romanian border
\npolice are releasing reports almost daily regarding migrants who are trying to
\nforce their way through the border. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Recently, two Syrians, a man and a woman, have
\nbeen caught by the border police in Giurgiu, in the south, while they were
\ntrying to enter Romania’s territory illegally. They were hidden in a truck that
\nwas transporting refrigerators from Turkey to the Czech Republic. The driver, a
\nTurkish citizen, said he did not know about the two clandestine passengers. All
\nthree were delivered to the Bulgarian border police based on a readmission
\nagreement. In the west of Romania, 25 Iraqis, all of them asylum-seekers in
\nRomania, were caught while trying to leave the country illegally. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Another 9 Iraqis were caught also in the west
\nof the country, in Nadlac, together with two
\nRomanian guides, who are now being investigated for migrant trafficking. The
\nrailway police in Timisoara
\nidentified 38 Iraqi citizens who were all registered in the asylum-seekers’
\ncentres in Gala\u0163i (in the south east) and
\nBucharest. Subsequent investigations have revealed that the Iraqis intended to
\ncross the border illegally in order to reach a country in the Schengen Area. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Black Sea is being increasingly used as a transit route by migrants trying to reach Western Europe illegally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":74655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29362,29207],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-74654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-black-sea","tag-migration"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n