Balkans Police Discover ‘Several Dozen’ Illegals in Truck Close to Coast

A barbed wire fence is set up along the Slovenian-Croatian border in Rakovec, in Slovenia
JURE MAKOVEC/AFP/Getty Images

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – Croatian police have discovered several dozen migrants hidden in a truck and detained two suspected people smugglers.

Police say a patrol stopped the truck with Slovenian license plates early on Tuesday near Gracac, in southern Croatia close to the Adriatic Sea coast.

Authorities are working to establish the identity of the migrants who can now seek asylum in Croatia, a European Union member country. Croatia’s state TV says they are mostly from Bangladesh, Pakistan or India.

Thousands of migrants are traveling through the Balkans aiming to reach Western Europe. From Croatia, migrants go to Slovenia, Austria and other wealthy EU nations.

Migrants mostly rely on people smugglers to take them across the borders illegally.

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