On May 29 and 31, border guards in Augšdaugava and Rēzekne municipalities detained five offenders who were transporting people who illegally crossed the state border.
On May 29, border guards tried to stop a Chrysler car on the highway in Andrupene parish with their lights and horn on for inspection, but its driver did comply with the border guards' lawful demands and began fleeing. Border guards immediately began pursuing the car. As a result of the fleeing, the driver of the pursued car lost control of the vehicle, drove into the forest and crashed into a tree. The driver and passengers of the vehicle began fleeing. Immediately initiating search measures, border guards detained five persons without valid travel documents and valid visas and residence permits, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarusian-Latvian border. In turn, State Police officers in the Rēzekne region stopped Toyota and Honda cars driven by Moldovan citizens - supporters of the carrier, and also detained two persons without valid travel documents and valid visas and residence permits, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarusian-Latvian border. Similarly, a border guard dog handler together with a Finnish border guard dog handler shortly after detained the driver of the crashed Chrysler vehicle - also a Moldovan citizen.
Border guards established that Moldovan citizens were staying in Latvia without a mandatory completed and submitted state threat prevention questionnaire, and none of the cars were registered in accordance with the established procedure. Administrative violation proceedings have been initiated for these violations. An administrative violation case has also been initiated for failing to comply with the request of a person authorized to check the driver's documents.
On the evening of the same day, State Police officers stopped a Ford minibus driven by a Ukrainian citizen in Skrudalienė parish. When checking the minibus, the police found seven persons of Asian origin without valid travel documents and valid visas and residence permits, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarusian-Latvian border.
On Sunday, May 31, border guards stopped a Toyota car driven by a Moldovan citizen in Vecsaliena parish. When checking the car interior, the border guards found six persons of Asian origin without valid travel documents and valid visas and residence permits, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarusian-Latvian border.
Criminal proceedings have been initiated against three Moldovan citizens under Part 3 of Section 285.1 of the Criminal Law for providing a large number of persons, that is, in one case more than five persons, with the opportunity to illegally reside in the Republic of Latvia, while criminal proceedings have been initiated against one Moldovan and Ukrainian citizen under Part 31 of Section 285 for illegal movement of a person across the state border, if they were committed during the operation of the enhanced border guard system or during a state of emergency declared due to a threat to the inviolability of the state border, regardless of the place of commission of the offense in the territory of Latvia.
21 persons were deterred from illegally crossing the state border in accordance with Section 4 of the State Border Guard Law.