Sergeant Major Piotr Zakielarz of the Bieszczady unit of the Polish Border Guard said that the incident with illegal migrants occurred on Sunday in Glinik Charzewski in the Podkarpackie Voivodship (southern Poland).
The men tried to reach Western Europe through Poland by hiding in the semitrailer of a delivery truck.
Sergeant Zakielarz explained that the 42-year-old Turkish truck driver informed the police that he had heard human voices coming from the semitrailer. Border guard officers then found four men in the semitrailer after opening it: two Afghans and two Pakistanis.
The men were well-prepared for their journey; they had sleeping bags, warm clothes and food. They had entered the semitrailer without the driver’s knowledge in Romania.
The migrants had applied for refugee status in Romania in January 2021. This was proven by documents issued by the Romanian authorities, which the men still had with them.
“Despite the initiated refugee process, they had decided to travel further to Western Europe, to France and Germany, and settle there. They explained that they had paid smugglers around €8,000-9,000 to help them in their journey from their home countries to the West,” Zakielarz said.
He added that they are now taking the necessary steps to transfer the foreigners back to Romania per the so-called Dublin procedure.
