Frontex: Number of illegal migrants coming to Europe drops by 62 pct

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (KUNA) -- The total number of migrants detected entering Europe in the first eleven months of this year fell by 62 percent to around 186 500 from the same period in 2016, Frontex, the EU border agency reported Monday.
The total number of migrant arrivals arriving in Italy via the Central Mediterranean route for the first 11 months of 2017 dropped by a third to around 116 400 compared to the same period of last year.
Between January and November, there were more than 21100 detections of irregular border crossing in the Western Mediterranean region, up 140 percent from the same period of last year.
In the first 11 months of this year, more than 37 900 migrants passed through the Eastern Mediterranean route, a decrease of 79 percent from the same period of 2016. Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans accounted for the majority of detections on the Eastern Mediterranean route.
The number of detections on the Western Balkan route remained relatively low in November, when 500 migrants were detected, due to close cooperation on border control among the countries of the region, noted Frontex. (end) nk.mt