SARAJEVO, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) Border Police has blocked 177 illegal migrants entering the territory of BiH during the past weekend, local media reported Monday.
Since mid-May, BiH Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies and the State Investigation and Protection Agency have been actively monitoring the state border with Serbia, which is mostly threatened by the migration pressure and is located in the area of Visegrad, some 110 km east from the capital.
During the weekend, police officers have prevented the entry of 107 illegal migrants in the area of Visegrad, and returned all migrants to the territory of Serbia.
On the territory of Foca, some 80 km southeast of the capital, BiH Border Police deterred entrance and returned 23 illegal migrants to Serbia on Sunday.
In the area of Bileca, a town near the border with Montenegro, some 170 km south of the capital, members of BiH Border Police on Sunday prevented 12 persons and returned them to the territory of Montenegro.
At several other locations, BiH Border Police have deterred entrance and exit of illegal migrants from Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and handed them over to BiH Service for Foreigners' Affairs.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called "Balkan route" in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe. BiH was then not part of that route. However, migrants have turned to BiH in recent months, trying to avoid more heavily-guarded routes and borders in the Balkans.
BiH authorities are struggling to cope with the increased influx of migrants whose number exceeded 3,500 since the beginning of this year, three times more than the total number of registered migrants in 2017.