Romanian border guards have intercepted a truck illegally transporting nearly 50 Iraqi citizens.
The Romanian border police said in a statement on Saturday that the truck with 48 Iraqis, including nine women and 17 minors, was spotted at the Danube port of Giurgiu on the Romanian-Bulgarian border on December 29.
The statement said the truck, which was officially transporting boxes of Bulgarian chocolate to Hungary, was emitting a high level of carbon dioxide as checks revealed. It said a young infant was also on board. The driver, a Bulgarian man, said he was unaware of the people in the back of the vehicle.
All the refugees and the driver, who were allegedly headed for Hungary, were being questioned by the Romanian police.
Romania, the second poorest member state of the European Union, has experienced a surge in the arrival of refugees since the beginning of 2015.
Many of the more than one million refugees who have hit Europe’s borders normally cross the eastern countries to reach the wealthier nations in the west. However, some refugees choose to stay, prompting concerns among the public and far-right politicians in eastern countries such as Romania.
The European Union managed to reach a deal with Turkey in March. Under the deal, there was a drastic reduction in the flow of refugees crossing the Mediterranean to reach the shores of Greece. However, the conflicts and poverty in the Middle East still force many to dare the journey despite increasing restrictions on borders.
Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria. The conflicts they are fleeing are usually instigated by the very European and non-European countries they seek to finally settle in.
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