Croatia stops Pakistani, Afghan EU-bound immigrants

Croatian police arrested illegal immigrants when they were trying to cross the border hidden in a trailer.

ZAGREB: Croatian police Wednesday said they had arrested 16 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan, half of them minors, when they were trying to cross the border hidden in a trailer.

The 16 men aged between 15 and 31 were found on a northwestern border crossing in the trailer of a truck with Serbian registration plates, a police statement said.

The HINA news agency said the immigrants boarded the trailer in Greece and were hidden between bags of flour.

Croatia lies on a Balkans route often used by criminals to smuggle people, drugs and weapons into the European Union.