Lithuanian border guards halt illegal migrant group heading west

Lithuanian border officers detained six undocumented migrants near the Polish border on Wednesday, state broadcaster LRT reports, citing the State Border Guard Service (VSAT).

The migrants—four Afghan nationals and one each from Sri Lanka and Algeria, aged 23 to 30—were apprehended in Graužiniai village, Vilkaviškis district, after being spotted in the yard of an abandoned homestead close to the Lithuanian-Polish frontier. None possessed valid travel documents, identification, or permission to enter Lithuania or the Schengen zone.

Officers from the Varėna border guard unit transported the group to a local VSAT facility before their transfer to the Foreigners’ Registration Centre in Pabradė for processing. Authorities confirmed the migrants had flown to Belarus before illegally crossing into Latvia, where they had applied for asylum but left before their claims were reviewed.

The detained individuals are part of a broader pattern of migrants exploiting the so-called “Latvian route”—entering Latvia, applying for asylum, then fleeing toward Western Europe via Lithuania and Poland before receiving a decision. Many travel in small groups using smugglers, forged documents, or public transport. Those intercepted in Lithuania after abandoning Latvian asylum procedures are returned under legal agreements between the two countries.

Most aim to reach Germany or other Western European states.