Warsaw, March 02 — RABIT Operation 2010 came to an end on March 02, 2011, four months after its launch on November 02, 2010 in the Evros River region of north-eastern Greece. Frontex Deputy Executive Director Gil Arias Fernandez was present in the operational area for the close of the operation — the first ever deployment of Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs), Frontex’s rapid response capability. “Frontex will continue to support Greece in the management of irregular migration at its land and sea borders with Turkey through the continuing provisions of Joint Operation (JO) Poseidon, which was active in the area prior to the RABIT deployment and which will continue as an open-ended operation” said Gil Arias Fernandez. “There will be a seamless transition between the two operations in order to provide unbroken coverage of the border areas concerned” – he added.
RABIT Operation 2010 achieved a significant reduction of 76% between the average daily numbers of irregular migrants crossing the Greek-Turkish land border between October 2010 and February 2011, particularly along the 12.5-km stretch of border near the Greek city of Orestiada. Between November 02, 2010, and March 01, 2011, a total of 11, 809 migrants had been detected while attempting to cross this border illegally. Moreover, 34 facilitators coming from Turkey, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Palestine and Georgia, were arrested during this period.
In 2011, from week four until the present, the number and share of detections remains at the same level — the average number of migrants detected per day was about 58, the share of detections between the Police Directorates of Alexandroupolis and Orestiada was approximately 65% and 35% respectively. Prior to the RABIT operation in 2010, the maximum number of migrants apprehended at the Greek-Turkish land border was recorded in October, with an average of 245 detections per day.
Details of JO Poseidon Land and JO Poseidon Sea 2011 will be released shortly.
News
RABIT Operation 2010 Ends, Replaced By JO Poseidon 2011
2011-03-03