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Czech police, soldiers exercise border controls over migrant crisis

Xinhua, September 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Czech police, soldiers and customs officers started training the reintroduction of checks along the Slovak border early on Tuesday morning over the migrant crisis.

Czech Police President Tomas Tuhy said the aim of the train is testing coordination and communication between security forces.

Tuhy said the drivers will be random checked because the police do not want to restrict the traffic at border crossings.

A part of the exercise will take place along Czech border with Austria and Germany at 11 border crossings close to migrant facilities, where police will train random controls to prevent possible return of illegal migrants from these facilities to the Czech Republic.

This part of the exercise applies only to police officers who want to test a situation that a mass of migrants would want to move into the Czech Republic.

For the train along the Slovak border, the first strictest degree of controls was declared based on a fictitious government decision.

The event will involve 300 police officers, 140 soldiers and 30 customs officers. More than 250 km of green border as well as 16 border crossings will be guarded.

Czech security forces trained border protection several times last year and this year.

The first exercise took place at the end of September, 2015 when 800 soldiers and policemen controlled the Czech border with Austria. In March 2016, Czech police again trained on the border with Austria to simulate the arrival of a large number of migrants. In April 2016, about 150 Czech soldiers trained in South Moravia, Zlin and Moravian region tested the response times to the border in the event of a sudden crisis.

According to Tuhy, a similar training will still be held along the German border later this year. Another exercise is planned along the Polish border next year.

Tuhy said although a decrease in illegal migration by 40 percent was seen, it is necessary to get prepared for various risk situations.

About 3,500 migrants came to the Czech Republic in 2015. Endit