Members of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Border Police prevented the entry of more than 10,200 illegal migrants in the first nine months of this year, but a large number of them were reported to have entered BiH.
“I can only reiterate the continuous pressure of citizens of countries with high migration risk from the direction of Serbia and Montenegro to the eastern and northeastern part of the BiH border is evident,” Galic said adding that it is still a very complex situation that cannot be solved by the existing capacities and human resources.
According to him, the BiH Border Police lacks as many as 407 police officers to perform regular tasks without a complex border situation.
“We have made some estimates of how many people are needed to respond appropriately in the eastern part of the border to cover all possible crossing points of about 600 kilometers. It is a shortage of more than 1,000 police officers,” Galic explained.
Although they are assisted by officers from other police agencies in border control, Galic claims they need more police involvement and support of the country.
“Given the fact that reinforced control measures have been implemented since the end of 2017, it is clear that this is not enough to respond more specifically to the complex situation. We are still awaiting the decisions of the Council of Ministers of BiH on the admission of a new generation of 160 cadets,” Galic concluded.
