Number of attempts to illegally cross the border decreased by 40% - Demchenko

Number of attempts to illegally cross the border decreased by 40% - Demchenko

Kyiv  •  UNN

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The number of border violators decreased by 40% compared to July. The SBGS exposed more than 720 illegal groups that helped people cross the border illegally for $5-20 thousand.

Since July 2024, there has been a downward trend in the number of offenders trying to illegally cross the border. Most often, they turn to criminal groups that they find through closed Telegram channels and social networks. The maximum amount for such assistance can reach 20 thousand dollars. This was stated by the spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, Andriy Demchenko, in a commentary for UNN.

Today UNN reported that police are conducting more than 200 searches in 19 regions of Ukraine regarding illegal border crossings by conscripts.

 At the same time, the State Border Guard Service notes that violators are detained every day, and most of them are detained through the green zone.

Every day we detain violators at the state border who are trying to illegally cross the border, most of them along the green border, that is, outside the checkpoints, but of course there are also attempts to illegally cross the border through checkpoints. There, the offenders usually either try to use forged documents, or falsify the conditions of their departure, or bribe State Border Guard Service inspectors

- Demchenko said.

According to him, the number of people willing to illegally cross the border also varies in different periods.

“When there are favorable weather conditions, this number may increase, but, for example, since July last year and until now, we have seen a downward trend in the number of people trying to illegally cross the border. That is, if we compare the figures for December and July, the decline is 40%,” said the SBGS spokesman.

The most interesting cases of illegal border crossing

“During the period of martial law and the restrictions at the border, which is why there is a tendency to increase attempts to illegally cross the border, the number of Ukrainian citizens who tried to illegally cross the border was much lower until February 24, 2022. But during this time, again, people tried to dress up in women's clothes, in fact, we are talking about men, and use women's passports. Someone pretended to be a person with a disability, someone tried to swim across the rivers along the state border line, and someone hid in the design features of vehicles,” said Demchenko.

He added that most offenders are usually not independent in their attempts to illegally cross the border. Most often, these individuals turn to criminal organized groups that they find through social media, in particular, through various closed Telegram channels.

They find a person who promises to assist them in illegal border crossing, receive either instructions for this, conditionally, without even physically contacting such persons, or accompany them to the border as accomplices or organizers

- said the SBGS spokesman.

According to Demchenko, people pay a lot of money for this. The amounts can range from 5 to 15 thousand dollars. When the offenders are already detained and “filtered” to find out who helped them and how they planned their illegal trip, some say they paid up to $20,000.

Initiatives to strengthen border control

“First of all, we need to understand that the forces and means that the SBGS has are used at the state border. These are border patrols, technical means of monitoring the area, unmanned aerial vehicles used to monitor the border in order to expose such groups or even individuals who are sneaking to the border in time, and, in fact, to detain them. This also includes cooperation with colleagues on the other side of the state border, in particular, with border guards from neighboring European countries and Moldova,” said Demchenko.

At the same time, he noted that an important component of the work is the interaction of SBGS operatives with other law enforcement agencies, including police units, to expose criminal schemes, identify organizers and accomplices, and detain them to stop offering people assistance in illegal border crossings.

According to the State Border Guard Service, by the end of 2024, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, operatives exposed more than 720 illegal groups, of which almost half were detected in 2024.

Previously

On January 11, the National Police reported that as a result of 600 searches across Ukraine, more than 60 suspicions were announced to organizers and participants for the illegal transfer of men across the state border.