North Macedonia Boosts Border Controls Amid Fears of Migrant Influx

BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2020) North Macedonia has posted troops and extra police forces to the Greek border ahead of a potential migrant inflow, the Interior Ministry spokesman told Sputnik on Monday.

The Balkan nation increased patrols along the southern frontier after Turkey opened flood doors to Europe to thousands of migrants fleeing fighting in Syria.

"Our units on the southern border have been strengthened. We do not disclose the number of officers," Toni Angelovski said.

He added that there were enough police and troops to stop migrants from slipping into the country.

Police from Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and the Czech Republic are assisting in the effort.

"We have not seen a rise in the number of illegal border crossings. Their number is similar to what we saw weeks and months ago, before the Greek-Turkish border crisis," the official added.

North Macedonia reported earlier on Monday that 180 migrants had tried to cross into the country from Greece, two days after police found 56 migrants crammed in a truck near the border town of Gevgelija.