WARSAW, Dec 12 (Reuters) – More than 180 migrants crossed into Poland through a tunnel hidden in a forest on the border with Belarus, frontier guards said on Friday. Around 130 of them were detained in Poland after the passage was discovered on Thursday, but the rest were still on the run, the Polish Border […]
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Scores of migrants cross into Poland through hidden Belarus border tunnel
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WARSAW, Dec 12 (Reuters) – More than 180 migrants crossed into Poland through a tunnel hidden in a forest on the border with Belarus, frontier guards said on Friday.
Around 130 of them were detained in Poland after the passage was discovered on Thursday, but the rest were still on the run, the Polish Border Guard said in a statement.
It released video of the tunnel dug through roots and bare earth, supported by wooden posts and metal rods and just 1.5 metres (5 feet) high – not enough for most people to pass through without crouching.
European Union member Poland has been grappling with a migrant crisis on its border with Belarus since 2021.
It has accused Belarus and Minsk’s ally Moscow of plotting to destabilise Poland by encouraging people, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, to cross the frontier.
Belarus and Russia have repeatedly dismissed these accusations.
The border guard said it was the fourth tunnel it had discovered in the western region of Podlaskie this year.
Guards also detained a 69-year-old Pole and a 49-year-old Lithuanian who had arrived to pick up the migrants, it added.
The “hidden entrance in the forest was located approximately 50 metres (from the border fence) on the Belarusian side of the border, while the exit was located approximately 10 metres from the barrier on the Polish side,” the Border Guard said.
Officers used electronic systems to work out how many people passed through, and army and police had joined the search for the missing migrants, it added.
Poland started work on its 180km (110-mile) border fence in 2022.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Andrew Heavens)