In a statement late on Thursday, the police said they had rounded up migrants in the municipalities of Subotica, Sombor and Kikinda near the Hungarian border in the north and near the town of Pirot in the southeast, near the border with Bulgaria. Last week three migrants died in a shootout near Serbia's border with Hungary, a route increasingly used by people smugglers for entering the European Union. So far theh have rounded up hundreds of migrants and arrested dozens. Many migrants are crossing borders with the help of elaborate networks of smugglers who are sometimes armed, and shootouts between criminal groups are frequent. Belgrade has pledged to align its visa policies with those of the EU to help stem the flow of illegal migrants westward.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 03, 2023 10:22 UTC