Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has revealed that a joint border patrol between Hungary and Serbia was attacked with automatic weapons last week.
Through a post on former Twitter, X, Orbán said that this incident marks a significant turning point, as migrants have now successfully breached the border.
He also revealed that Hungarian authorities have managed to prevent around 128,000 migrants from crossing the border so far this year. However, the Prime Minister added that it is worrying that violent attacks on border guards have increased.
Attacks on border guards have become commonplace. This year, there have been 168 severe attacks along Hungary’s border, resulting in many Hungarian police officers being injured.
According to Hungarian police reports, one of the incidents happened at 22:30 on Thursday, September 21.
During this incident, a joint Serbian-Hungarian patrol group, consisting of four people, was shot four times from the Serbian direction. After the initial shooting, several short volleys were fired in the Mórahalom area, targeting the temporary border security barrier.
In the recent months of this year, Hungary has been facing a growing number of irregular entries into the country. Earlier this month, Hungarian authorities revealed that they have successfully apprehended nearly one million migrants at the country’s southern border since 2015.
In this regard, Prime Minister György Bakondi’s chief security adviser pointed out that in the first quarter of the year, Hungarian authorities apprehended 27,600 individuals, followed by 36,490 in the second quarter and 43,300 in the third quarter.
As he explains, most of these individuals are of Syrian nationality, with Afghan, Turkish, and Pakistani nationals making up a significant proportion.
He further emphasised that people smugglers have become more organised in their efforts to facilitate illegal border crossings. As a result, they are attempting to cross the border simultaneously in 19 different countries, often in groups consisting of 100 to 200 illegal immigrants.
In August, Bakondi also said that the average number of border violations increases on weekends, reaching even more than the 500 cases observed during weekdays. He revealed that the latest statistics show that there were 91,000 illegal attempts to cross the border during 2023. In response, law enforcement authorities have taken legal action against 700 people smugglers, many of whom were found to be operating within significant criminal syndicates.
