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In H1 2023, more than 30.2 million people, Romanian and foreign citizens passed through Romania's border crossing points - 14.7 million into and 15.5 million out the country - up more than 18% y-o-y, the Border Police General Inspectorate (IGPF) reported on Thursday.
In 2023, there will be significant increases in traffic through the crossing points at the level of all border segments - approximately 48% at the border with Serbia, 34.8% at the border with Ukraine and 28.1% at the airports.
There were approximately eight million vehicles, an annual increase of 13% over 2022 - 7.1 million vehicles.
As far as criminal offences go, border police officers detected 5,604 of them, most of which were attempted/illegal border crossing (2,167), violations of intellectual property rights (629), fake and counterfeiting (598), migrant trafficking (357), smuggling and customs fraud (236), as well as fish poaching (439).
At the same time, fines were issued to 5,267 people to the tune of RON 4,881,659, most of them at the border with Moldova - 30% of all.
In the same period of time, 3,675 foreign nationals were denied entry as a result of failing to meet the legal conditions for entering the country, and one of the main reasons why this measure was taken was that they did not have the necessary documentation to justify the purpose and conditions of stay.
Nationwide in H1 2023, the border police found 1,296 foreign citizens attempting to enter Romania illegally, a decrease from H1 2022, when 2,134 such cases were reported.
At the same time, 6,950 foreign nationals were found on the way out of Romania - most of them coming from Bangladesh, Syria, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, and Afghanistan - who tried to illegally cross the border into neighbouring countries, with the most being recorded at the border with Hungary (6,754), more than three times than in H1 2022. Most of them acted organised in groups of migrants with support from traffickers, and they were people who entered Romania legally on work or study visas.
As regards the fight against trans-frontier crime in H1 2023, 236 instances of smuggling and customs fraud were reported and 57 crimes of an economic or financial nature that led to assets worth almost RON 209.2 million being impounded.
The border police confiscated more than 2,621,518 packs of cigarettes of a value of RON 46,894,520, nearly 5,564 kg of tobacco and 9,698 kg of hookah tobacco. As against H1 2022, there is an increase of approximately 1.7 times in the number of impounded packs of cigarettes, with the people involved in the illegal cigarette trafficking coming from Bulgaria, India, Turkey, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania.
Counterfeit goods bearing protected international trademarks were also discovered, with 629 such instances reported , almost 202.4% more than in H1 2022.
As regards stolen motor vehicles, the border police found 120 means of transport - 103 cars, 6 trucks, 6 minibuses, 3 motorcycles and 2 trailers - which is almost 52% up from H1 2022. The people involved in the thefts came from Bulgaria, Iran, Libya, Latvia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary, Romania and Ukraine.
As far as illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition is concerned, in H1 2023 1,221 weapons were discovered - 1,202 gas pistols, four hunting rifles, one military pistol, seven air guns and seven other weapons - 2,034 cartridges, 35,632 firework devices , 9.6 kg of explosive materials, a grenade and 55 components for weapons. The people who committed crimes under the weapons and ammunition regulations came from Ukraine, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the US and Romania.
In H1 2023, 5.26 kg of cocaine, 3.5 kg of heroin, 1.63 kg of cannabis, as well as other narcotics, anabolic steroids and psychotropic drugs were also found.
With regard to illegal waste shipments, significant quantities of waste were stopped upon entering Romania, namely several shipments of over 2,773 tonnes consisting of metals, textiles/clothing, glass, plastic, cardboard and paper, furniture, batteries, car components, etc. AGERPRES
