An electronic barrier with 3,000 day-night cameras and thermal images has now been activated along the border between Poland and Belarus.
Polish border guards will monitor the 21-kilometer stretch of wall near the border crossing in Kuznica.
The parameter being constructed on the border with Belarus, which will cost close to $400 million, is to be part of an early warning system that will be active along the entire external border of the European Union.
The barrier will become operational in the next few days. Training is being completed for managing the barrier, and a presentation for the media is imminent. Some 140 officers are being trained to operate the system, and there will be at least 10 officers on duty every shift who will be responsible for monitoring the border and making decisions on any attempt to cross it. The system will be able to detect border crossings even by animals.
The construction of the physical barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border was completed in the summer of this year. A 5-meter steel fence with barbed wire has been laid along 186 kilometers of the border.
Meanwhile, Polish border guards on Monday reported that 80 people attempted to cross the border illegally, and another 28 on Tuesday — they were from Syria, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Afghanistan. They were aided and abetted by two citizens of Turkmenistan and one Georgian. So far, in November, there have been 1.302 attempts to illegally cross the Polish border from Belarus, and 13,163 attempts from the beginning of 2022.
The physical barrier along the border is proving extremely helpful to border guards. When illegal migrants attempt to get over it with the help of ladders, the guards have time to react, and the migrants withdraw when they see the guards approaching.
Speaking during the Independence Day celebrations last week, President Andrzej Duda mentioned the hybrid attack on the Polish border from Belarus. He said that the attack on Poland’s border was a test on the readiness of Polish forces as well as an attempt to create a crisis in Poland and the EU.
“Thanks to the tough stance taken, the Polish border has been defended,” concluded Duda.
