On Friday, Czech police detained five undocumented Afghan migrants who entered the Czech Republic hidden in a Bulgarian truck, with three of them caught with the help of a police dog.
At the D1 motorway rest stop, the truck driver noticed the migrants in the semi-trailer, according to Czech news outlet Idnes.cz.
The dispatcher of the logistics company then contacted Czech police around half past eight in the evening and told them about the truck driver’s suspicion.
The driver was sleeping in the cab of the truck when a suspicious movement in the semi-trailer woke him up.
“When he opened the semi-trailer, five unknown people jumped out and fled,” police spokeswoman Dana Čírtková stated.
The driver told the police that he did not know when and where the migrants got into the trailer.
All available police patrols immediately joined the search for the escapees. One officers then found two migrants in the nearby town of Měřín just before 10:00 p.m.
“They did not have any documents with them, so the police detained them and handed them over to their colleagues from the Foreign Police Department,” said the police spokeswoman.
About 45 minutes later, the police also managed to track down the other three foreigners with the help of a police K9. The dog led the officers along tracks and under a highway bridge where the three migrants tried to hide. Once police apprehended them, they learned that this group of migrants did not have any documents with them either.
Investigators determined that all five migrants came from Afghanistan. Only one of them is believed to be an adult, while the other four are allegedly teenagers, however, none of them were able to prove their identity and age.
After going through all necessary procedures, including a medical examination and a test for COVID-19, they were placed in specialized facilities.
While the under-age migrants ended up in a facility for minor foreigners, the adult man was placed in a facility for detained adult foreigners. At the same time, deportation proceedings were initiated.
Title image: Two of the detained Afghans (Policie ČR / Twitter)
