Azernews.Az

BAKU – 369 people were detained this year for violating Azerbaijan’s border, the State Border Service chief Elchin Guliyev has said.

108 of the violators, or 29.3 percent of all border trespassers, were seized while attempting to cross to other countries, while 261 people, or 70.7 percent, were trying to illegally come to Azerbaijan, Guliyev told a meeting on Wednesday while summarizing the outcomes of 2010.

59.1 pct of the trespassers were citizens of Azerbaijan, while 10.6 pct were nationals of Iran, 8.9 pct of Georgia, 4.9 pct of Russia, 4.6 pct of Bangladesh, 3.8 pct of Afghanistan, 3 pct of Pakistan, and 5.1 pct were from other countries.

Guliyev said the number of violators nabbed this year has increased 3.9 pct compared to 2009.

There were nine cases of armed resistance to frontier guards in 2010, with three of the violators neutralized.

According to Guliyev, 929 wanted people were seized throughout the year.

Law enforcers impounded smuggled goods worth 5.684 million (around $7.1 million) and prevented trafficking of over 235 kg of drugs across the border.

Three Russian-owned and seven Azerbaijani-owned vessels were detained by Azerbaijan’s coast guard in the Caspian Sea this year.

Also, nine persons were detained this year on suspicion of links to foreign secret services, along with five organized crime groups engaged in smuggling of goods and drug trafficking as well as three groups engaged in illegal migration.