Czech police nab smugglers in new border checks as migrant flows spike

Police officers patrol the Czech-Slovak green border near Stary Hrozenkov, as part of the security measures put in place after the numbers of migrants travelling to Germany increased, Czech Republic, September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa

STARY HROZENKOV, Czech Republic (Reuters) - Czech police chasing a vanload of migrants fired warning shots on Thursday as they began checks on the border with Slovakia to combat a sharp rise in people, mostly Syrians, heading illegally to western Europe.

Police intercepted over 100 migrants and detained nine suspected people smugglers as they began checks on all 27 road and rail entry points and on patrols outside frontier crossings.