LJUBLJANA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian police caught 980 illegal immigrants trying to get into the country in the first seven months of this year, a surge of 168 percent from the same period a year ago.
According to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), most illegal immigrants crossed over from Italy.
More than a third of all illegal immigrants were from Afghanistan, their number soaring to 374 from only a fraction of that figure a year before.
Thirteen Afghans who asked for asylum were apprehended by police in the area of Podgrad and Ilirska Bistrica in the southwestern Slovenia.
The Koper Police Department, which covers the area of Podgrad and Ilirska Bistrica in southwestern Slovenia, handled a total of 494 cases of illegal migration this year, compared to only 142 in the same period a year ago.
In July alone, Koper police caught 72 people illegally crossing the border. Most came from Afghanistan and Albania, said the STA report. Enditem
