Lithuania’s border guards detained 231 people smuggling migrants last year. Seventy-six were Ukrainian and 32 were Georgian citizens, the rest were Lithuanian nationals.
According to the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), most of the people smuggling cases involved irregular migrants, who had been released in the summer last year following their prolonged detention.
Last summer, organised crime upped their involvement in irregular migration, the border guards said.
In 2021, almost 4,200 people entered Lithuania from Belarus irregularly, which Lithuanian officials called a hybrid attack orchestrated by the Belarusian regime.
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