Authorities beef up border monitoring during holidays

TIRANA, Dec. 23 – Border police have increased numbers and work hours at border crossings due to increased influx of the people and vehicles as part of the year-end holiday season.
Thousands of Albanian migrants return home each year to spend the holidays with their families and many more chose to travel to spend them abroad.
Police said they were set to stop any person that crosses the border without respecting the general rules in Albania and those of the countries where they intend to travel.
Police again called on the common Albanians to respect the rules and not break them when visiting European Union member countries based on the visa-free regime agreement Albania has with the Schengen Area.
That call comes after some hundreds of people tried to reach Germany last week allegedly after words they could apply for asylum and that would be accepted immediately.
“The Interior Ministry reminds all Albanian citizens that any effort to ask for asylum at the EU countries in an abusive way will be absolutely unacceptable as now Albania is considered a safe country and the EU countries do not approve such requests,” said a statement by the Interior Ministry.