On Thursday, September 17, in the Krāslava municipality, the border guards, in cooperation with the State Police officers, detained a person transporting individuals who had illegally crossed the state border.
The State Police officers attempted to stop a BMW vehicle in Kombuļi parish; however, the driver failed to comply with the officers' lawful order to stop and instead accelerated, continuing to drive. A pursuit was immediately initiated, resulting in law enforcement officers intercepting the vehicle, which was driven by a Latvian citizen. During the document check, it was discovered that the vehicle's passenger doors were open, and sounds indicating the presence of people could be heard coming from the forest. A State Border Guard service dog handler was immediately deployed; together with their service dog, they located four individuals in the forest area who lacked valid travel documents, visas, or residence permits, and who had previously crossed the Belarus-Latvia border illegally. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against a transporter under Section 285, Paragraph 3.1 of the Criminal Law for the illegal movement of persons across the state border—committed during a regime of enhanced border protection or a state of emergency declared due to a threat to the inviolability of the state border, regardless of where within Latvian territory the offense occurred.
Four individuals were prevented from illegally crossing the state border in accordance with Section 4 of the State Border Guard Law.
To ensure the security of Latvia's eastern border, Operation "VILKATIS" (WEREWOLF) was launched on August 11; it represents a targeted and coordinated Latvian response to a hybrid threat—specifically, the instrumentalization of illegal migration from Belarus. Its objective is to significantly reduce the number of illegal border crossings in the eastern part of Latvia and to prevent such incidents in the future.
This year, the State Border Guard has already initiated 151 criminal proceedings (64 of which were separated from previously opened cases) against 110 individuals for the illegal movement of persons and/or for facilitating the illegal stay of persons in Latvia. Individuals involved in such activities face severe prison sentences; for instance, in one case, a person was sentenced to five years of imprisonment, while in another, the sentence was six years and one month.
The State Border Guard urges the public to refrain from engaging in any criminal activities related to organizing or carrying out the onward transport (by vehicle) of persons who have illegally crossed the state border within the European Union.
The penalty prescribed by the relevant article of the Criminal Law for the illegal movement of persons across the state border, as well as for organizing and carrying out other criminal activities linked to illegal migration into the Republic of Latvia, is a prison term of two to ten years—with or without confiscation of property and with or without a period of probation supervision of up to three years.