Latvia reports no detentions since Operation Vilkatis began

No illegal migrants or people transporting them have been detained since Latvia launched Operation Vilkatis to strengthen controls along the state border, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis said in an interview with Latvian Radio and Latvian Television on Monday, LSM reported.

The State Border Guard began the operation last week together with the National Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Police and other services. It followed the discovery of a tunnel near Silene used to transport illegal migrants.

No other tunnel connecting Belarus and Latvia has been found since the operation began, Melnis said. “It is possible that the operation is already producing results,” he said.

The number of soldiers and national guardsmen deployed in the border area has been doubled. Authorities are also carrying out intensified checks of vehicle drivers and vehicle luggage.

Operation Vilkatis is scheduled to continue until August 31. Melnis said plans were being strengthened so that the State Border Guard could continue devoting increased attention to combating illegal migration after the operation ends. He did not comment on whether the tunnel found near Silene had been filled in.

Latvia launched the operation on August 11 to counter illegal migration. A total of 9,521 people have been prevented from illegally crossing the Latvia Belarus border this year, according to the report. Similar situations have been reported in Lithuania and Poland. Officials from the Baltic states and Poland have said Belarusian authorities are deliberately failing to prevent border crossings, while the European Union has described the actions as hybrid warfare.