Italy; Border Police detains 90 irregular passengers coming from outside Schengen

Rome: The Border Police office at Rimini airport, Italy, through its control activity for passengers outside Schengen, has announced that at the beginning of 2023, it has managed to identify and return a total of 90 citizens of third countries to their country of origin, mainly coming from Tirana.

As Geronimo News reports, the reasons for which they have not allowed these people to enter the national territory include the lack of adequate proof proving the purpose and conditions of stay, hotel reservations or health insurance for the trip.

In addition, the border police discovered that after in-depth controls, several of the rejected persons had already stayed more than 90 days in the Schengen area, exceeding the maximum allowed limit, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Certain individuals, who claimed they were entering Italy for tourism purposes, were discovered during investigations that they intended to enter the country for business or work purposes.

Some other individuals were denied entry due to posing a threat to public safety and order, as they had a criminal past that precluded their admittance.

According to the police, careful checks of entry conditions led to the identification of four foreigners who used fraudulent airline tickets to falsely represent their intention to leave Italy, when in fact, their intention was staying in the country irregularly. An Albanian citizen was also found with a passport with forged stamps.

On several occasions, police investigations revealed local accommodation facilities housing or employing foreign individuals not in compliance with residency regulations. The owners of these establishments were subsequently fined and reported for their regulatory infractions.

Recently, in all efforts by the police to counter the use of forged documentation by foreign nationals on direct flights to the United Kingdom, an Iranian national was caught. This individual, who was in possession of a fake Austrian passport, was attempting to board a direct flight to London.

At the end of December last year, Italian border authorities also stopped a total of 50 people from entering its territory after they were suspected of intending to stay in Italy irregularly.

In this regard, the Rimini Border Police Office emphasised that of the 50 suspected persons, some of them were convicted of crimes with a particular social impact or had previously been banned from entering Italy.

Moreover, in March of this year, Italy, together with countries like Slovenia and Croatia reached a tripartite agreement in an attempt to better control illegal migration, after an influx of immigrants trying to enter these countries irregularly was noted.

Commenting on this decision, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, said that for many Slovenian citizens, the Schengen area has facilitated their journey to Croatia, also stressing that the support for Croatian membership was the right decision.