Latvia says migrants forced into sabotage at border — LSM English

Latvia’s prosecutor’s office has said that migrants on the Belarusian side of the border may have been forced to damage infrastructure in Latvia if they did not pay for illegally crossing the border. LSM English reports, citing an investigation by LTV’s De facto program.

According to Andris Aleksejevs, a prosecutor at the State Security Protection Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, people in camps near the border are regularly visited by individuals in uniform. He said they check photographs to see whether migrants have paid for an attempt to cross the border illegally. Those who have not paid are offered a choice: damage Latvian infrastructure or face physical violence or other torture.

Suspicions regarding Belarusian border guards

In July, Latvia’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened criminal proceedings over an intention to commit serious crimes against the state. According to Aleksejevs, the case contains reasonable suspicions that officials of Belarus’s border service are involved in organizing illegal migration and damaging Latvian infrastructure to facilitate the crime.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

According to information obtained in the case, after arriving in Latvia, people already know exactly where and what they need to damage. The prosecutor’s office reports that they carry tools, including hacksaws for metal, and return to Belarus after committing the crime. The cost of an illegal migration route is about $5,000 per person, with payments most often made in cryptocurrency.

Damage and border protection

This year, Latvian border guards have registered more than 60 cases of damage to infrastructure, including electrical cabinets and video surveillance cameras. Last year, there were 23 such cases. At the same time, Latvia reported more than 12,000 prevented attempts to illegally cross the Belarusian-Latvian border since the beginning of the year.

Between 100 and 200 National Armed Forces personnel are on duty daily on the Latvian side of the border. At the beginning of October, a group of about 10 to 20 people illegally crossed the border. According to National Armed Forces Colonel Guntars Strazdītis, people on the Belarusian side threatened Latvian servicemen and displayed an object resembling a weapon, after which the migrants were able to return to Belarus.