Interior Minister Nake Culev arned that the lifting of the coronavirus linked restrictions across the region will again re-active the migrant smuggling routes in the Balkans. Migrants were easy to catch with the evening curfews that were introduced because of the coronavirus epidemic, and he border closures, but as both these measures are being phased out, a new spike in illegal migration is expcected.

Culev specifically pointed to a migrant camp which Greece built close to the border with Macedonia, saying that it will lead to crossings over the Belasica mountain, near Strumica.

With the onset of Covid-19 there was a dramatic reduction in the number of illegal migrants. But we are now witnessing that migrant smugglers are again surfacing, and there is some illegal migration noticeable at the Gevgelija railway line, but also on mount Belasica. It is due to the good weather we are having, Culev said during a visit to the south-eastern part of the country.