German border police stop 2,500 illegal crossings in 2 weeks

Police patrolling Germany's borders detected 2,448 unauthorized attempts to enter the country after border controls were extended in mid-September, the Federal Police announced on Tuesday, reported dpa.

A total of 1,546 people were sent back after crossing the border illegally between September 16 and September 30, according to the agency, while 69 were turned back at the border and banned from re-entering the country.

Another 49 suspected smugglers were arrested.

Since September 16, controls have been carried out at all German land borders in order to reduce the number of people entering the country without permission.

The checks at the land borders with Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are new, while border controls have already been carried out for some time at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.

There have already been checks at the border with France due to the Paris Olympic Games.

The measure is temporary and initially limited to six months, although the controls can be repeatedly extended. Controls on the border with Austria, for instance, have been in place on an officially temporary basis since 2015.

Authorities did not break down the figures between the eastern borders, where checks were already in place, and the new controls on Germany's western and northern borders.

The police union (GdP) had stated a few days ago that the new border controls had so far made very little contribution to limiting illegal migration, since only a few illegal immigrants and smugglers had been apprehended at the western borders.

The GdP claimed that people simply bypass the checkpoints.

Several European countries including Poland, Denmark and Greece have criticized the expanded controls, which are only allowed in exceptional cases within Europe's passport-free Schengen area.