Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) recorded 48,846,832 persons crossing the BiH border in 2017, an increase of 5.53 percent year-on-year, director of BiH Border Police said at the press conference here on Tuesday.
During the same period, there were 19,671,930 border crossings by different means of transportation, amounting to an increase of 6.89 percent year-on-year.
BiH Border Police official report states that 547 persons, wanted by BiH competent bodies, and 118 persons in Interpol databases, attempted to cross the BiH border during last year.
Director of the BiH Border Police Zoran Galic explained that 2017 saw 2,313 foreigners from 77 countries to whom the entry to BiH was forbidden, amounting to an increase of 3.12 percent year-to-year.
There was a significant increase in the number of illegal migrants attempting to cross BiH border in 2017, out of 753, the biggest number of illegal migrants were recorded from Pakistan (124), Algeria (125), Afghanistan (85), Turkey (64), Libya (56) and Syria (62).
“In 2016, there were less than 100 migrants, while in 2017 this number increased to 754, and from the beginning of 2018, for one month and ten days, the number of illegal migrants has already reached 458,” Galic told reporters.
BiH Border Police official statistics reveal that officers in 2017 had temporarily seized goods in the value of 1,248,829 KM (784,944 U.S. Dollars), and money in different denominations of equivalent value of 163,159 KM (102,547 U.S. Dollars).
BiH Border Police remarkably contributes to increase of security level in BiH, in accordance with the highest European standards, it closely cooperates with competent BiH authorities, INTERPOL and EURPOPOL. Border control is conducted at 83 border crossing points, of which 55 international and 28 for border area traffic, BiH Border Police official website states. (1 U.S. Dollar=1.59 KM)