Romania, a new transit route for refugees

The Black Sea is being increasingly used as a transit route by migrants trying to reach Western Europe illegally.

Corina Cristea, 12.09.2017, 13:01

A new transit route for the refugees heading
towards Western Europe has been emerging as the Black Sea is being used more
and more by migrants in their attempt to reach Europe’s richest countries. In
the past month, four boats carrying hundreds of migrants have been intercepted
by the Romanian border police in the Black Sea. Data show that most of the
migrants are Syrians and Iraqis. Following their surveillance of the maritime
border, the Coast Guard has intercepted a boat carrying 97 people who intended
to enter Romania illegally. Another boat with almost 120 people on board has
been stopped by the border police in the Black Sea, in the common
Romanian-Bulgarian patrolling area. The boat and its passengers have been taken
over by the Turkish authorities.

This is happening at a time when the number of
migrants landing in Italy, their main gateway to Europe, has dropped
significantly in recent months. August saw 3,914 new arrivals in Italy, 80%
fewer compared with last year. The number of migrants started dropping in July
after the Italian authorities decided to restrict the flow of migrants by
concluding agreements with the Libyan local authorities. The Romanian border
police are releasing reports almost daily regarding migrants who are trying to
force their way through the border.

Recently, two Syrians, a man and a woman, have
been caught by the border police in Giurgiu, in the south, while they were
trying to enter Romania’s territory illegally. They were hidden in a truck that
was transporting refrigerators from Turkey to the Czech Republic. The driver, a
Turkish citizen, said he did not know about the two clandestine passengers. All
three were delivered to the Bulgarian border police based on a readmission
agreement. In the west of Romania, 25 Iraqis, all of them asylum-seekers in
Romania, were caught while trying to leave the country illegally.

Another 9 Iraqis were caught also in the west
of the country, in Nadlac, together with two
Romanian guides, who are now being investigated for migrant trafficking. The
railway police in Timisoara
identified 38 Iraqi citizens who were all registered in the asylum-seekers’
centres in Galaţi (in the south east) and
Bucharest. Subsequent investigations have revealed that the Iraqis intended to
cross the border illegally in order to reach a country in the Schengen Area.