Illegal smuggling on the rise in Estonia

  • 2009-07-27
  • TBT staff
TALLINN- The Chief of the Russian BorderGuarding Service, army General Vladimir Pronitshev chief of the Russian BorderGuard has stated that both illegal immigration and the smuggling of drugs andalcohol have increased into Estonia.

Pronitshev reported that citizens of Afghanistan are prepared to pay5,000 's 6,000 U.S. dollars to be able to escape the war in their home countryand move to the European Union. Estonian border guards have caught citizens of Afghanistan who do not have the right to enter Estonia on theKoidula border crossing point.

Afghan nationals have also been apprehended onships bound for Stockholm.

Estonian Minister of Internal Affairs MarkoPomerants saidthat Estoniais merely a stopping point and not a destination for illegal immigrants.