The Ministry of the Interior of North Macedonia reported this Tuesday of the arrest of 25 Cubans at a traffic control point in the city of Gevgelija, on the border with Greece, and the arrest of a smuggler from Serbia who was transporting migrants in a van.
The police search was carried out last Monday night on the Gevgelija-Skopje highway and in addition to the 25 nationals of the island, including five minors, three migrants from India were also traveling.
According to the authorities, the vehicle carrying the migrants was pursued by the police after the driver did not respect the stop sign at a place called Nova Petla, near Gevgelija.
The vehicle carrying the migrants was chased by the police after the driver did not respect the stop sign at a place called Nova Petla, near Gevgelija
The Cubans were transferred to an immigration center, while the Serbian driver was transferred to a police station in the city itself and criminal proceedings were opened against him.
Cubans venture to travel this migratory route with the aim of arriving, first, in Greece and then flying to another country of the European Union, generally Spain or Italy. The journey begins in Russia, which does not request a visa from those from the Island.
At the end of October, about 120 Cubans, including pregnant women and children, they were stranded for several hours at the international airport on the island of Zakynthos, in Greece, after being detained by the authorities when they tried to continue to Spain by air.
Most of the migrants left Moscow and traveled to several countries, including Serbia, until they reached Greece, where they had been for a week, he confirmed then to 14ymedio a friend of the detainees. The migrants’ intention was to enter the EU to try to fly to Spain and request refuge, the source said.
Some Cubans began the process to request asylum in Greece because they were not allowed to board the flight to Spain, but returning to the island was not the option that they wanted as their final destination, according to what several of them were heard saying in the recordings that circulated on social networks.
Last september, two groups of Cubans, one of 15 and the other of 4 migrants, were also detained while trying to illegally cross the border between North Macedonia and Greece, with the same purpose of reaching the European Union.
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