A resident of Ogre region noticed suspicious hitchhikers — six more migrants found in the forest 0 11

In the Ogre region, the police detained eight illegal migrants after a local resident called about suspicious people on the road.

The incident occurred in the Birzgale municipality on the road from Riga Hydro Power Plant to Jaunelgava. A witness reported that two foreign nationals were trying to stop passing cars heading from Kegums to Jaunelgava.

Municipal police officers from the Ogre region arrived at the scene. There, they met the caller and two men who turned out to be citizens of India. During the conversation, it became clear that the foreigners had illegally crossed the Latvian border. Both were detained.

Later, the detainees reported that six more people were nearby in the forest. According to the police, the men had been without food for several days, and they had not had water for a long time. One of the migrants had a head injury.

After that, the State Police and the Emergency Medical Service joined the operation.

In cooperation with the State Police, the remaining six people were found in the forest area. All of them were detained and handed over to the State Border Guard for further procedural actions.

Such cases occur regularly in Latvia since the beginning of the migration crisis at the border with Belarus. Most often, groups of migrants try to reach deeper into the country or to other European Union states after illegally crossing the border.

In recent years, the police and border guards have repeatedly emphasized that reports from local residents play an important role in identifying such cases.

Currently, law enforcement agencies are investigating the circumstances of the illegal border crossing and possible routes of movement for the group.