Latvia finds tunnel under Belarus border, vows to combat people smugglers

Latvia said on Tuesday that a tunnel had been discovered under the border with Belarus and announced plans to combat networks that it ​says are helping a growing number of migrants cross the frontier illegally, Report informs via Reuters.

Latvian ‌soldiers last month used tear gas and fired a warning shot to stop migrants trying to enter from Belarus, which shares a 173-km (107-mile) border with European Union member state Latvia.

"The protection of Latvia's eastern ​border will be strengthened, with closer cooperation between the Border Guard, State ​Police, National Armed Forces and security services, and more intensive use ⁠of drones for early detection and detention of illegal migrants," Interior Minister Janis ​Dombrava told a joint press conference with Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs.

European nations have expressed ​concern over unregulated migration in recent weeks following an inflow of tens of thousands of people from Morocco to the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, although most of those migrants have since left.

Kulbergs said ​criminal networks were facilitating the migration from Belarus into Latvia, bringing them inside Europe's ​borderless Schengen area, but that the final destination for migrants was elsewhere on the continent.

"They migrate ‌to ⁠where it's easier [to enter the EU]. So we must not be the easiest place," Kulbergs told the press conference.

He pledged to target networks transporting the migrants from the border to their destinations, as well as any support points for migrants in Latvia, ​as part of ​what he called "Operation ⁠Werewolf".