During the weekend, a transporter of persons illegally crossing the state border was detained in Krāslava municipality, who used a counterfeit “Latvian Post” vehicle with counterfeit license plates for his illegal activities, while another transporter was detained in Daugavpils after a pursuit.
On Friday, July 24, while checking the information received, the State Police officials, who provide support to border guards, stopped a Toyota car in Skaista parish, driven by a Latvian citizen. It was found that the car was a fake “Latvian Post” vehicle with counterfeit license plates. Upon inspection of the car, six persons without valid travel documents, visas and residence permits were found in its interior and luggage compartment, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarus-Latvia border.
On Saturday, July 25, while checking the information received, police officers in Daugavpils tried to stop a Ford car with the horn and beacon lights on, but the driver did not respond to the police's lawful request to stop the car and increased the speed. After the chase, the car stopped, but several people started to flee. Upon checking the car, it was found that it was driven by a Ukrainian citizen and that there were nine people in it without valid travel documents, visas and residence permits, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarus-Latvia border.
In turn, a State Border Guard dog handler with a service dog was immediately involved in the search for the escapees, who after a while found six more people in the bushes without valid travel documents, visas and residence permits, who had previously illegally crossed the Belarus-Latvia border.
Criminal proceedings have been initiated against Latvian and Ukrainian citizens in accordance with Part 31 of Section 285 of the Criminal Law for the illegal movements of persons across the state border, if they have been committed by an organised group or they have resulted in serious consequences, or also who commits illegal movement of a large number of persons, that is, more than five persons at one time, across the State border.
21 persons have been deterred from illegally crossing the state border in accordance with Section 4 of the State Border Guard Law.
It has also been established that the Latvian citizen transported a larger number of passengers than indicated by the vehicle manufacturer and transported passengers who were not wearing seat belts. In turn, the Ukrainian citizen stayed in Latvia without a mandatory completed and submitted state threat prevention questionnaire. Administrative violation proceedings have been initiated for these violations.
Since August 11, 2021, an enhanced border guard system operating regime has been in force in certain administrative territories of Latvia, within the framework of which the National Armed Forces and the State Police provide support to the State Border Guard in ensuring border surveillance of the Latvia-Belarus border in order to prevent illegal border crossing. Also, within the framework of bilateral cooperation, support is also provided to the Latvian border guards by colleagues from Finland, Estonia and Lithuania.
Similarly, the vigilance of local residents and timely provision of information about suspicious activities in border areas play an important role in strengthening the security of the state border. We express our gratitude to the residents who support the border guards by reporting suspicious persons and vehicles.
In cases where residents detect persons or groups of persons who are not typical of the ethnic and national affiliation of the Republic of Latvia (the external appearance indicates that the persons may be citizens of third countries), we urge you to immediately inform the officials of the State Border Guard or the State Police, using the Unified Emergency Assistance Call number 112 (24-hour mode) or by contacting the operational officer on duty of the State Border Guard Daugavpils Board, tel. 65403777, mob. 22020361, e-mail: dap.od@rs.gov.lv.