Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani law enforcers exposed this year a foreign national who cooperated with other countries’ secret services for spying and sabotage purposes, the State Border Service head has said.

Elchin Guliyev told a meeting devoted to the outcomes of 2011 that as part of anti-terrorism efforts, the border service exposed 15 people who fought within armed groups in conflict zones abroad, four groups engaged in arranging illegal migration, and neutralized six criminal groups over drug-related crimes.

According to Guliyev, 850 border trespassers were detained this year, more than double the figure reported last year. 29.2 percent of the violators attempted to cross the Azerbaijani border into other countries, while 70.8 percent tried to enter Azerbaijan illegally.

30.5 percent of the trespassers were detained on the Azerbaijani-Russian border, while 11.6 percent – on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border, 6.1 percent on Azerbaijan’s frontier with Georgia, and 0.2 percent on the country’s border with Turkey. 1.8 percent of the violators were exposed on maritime borders and the remaining 49.8 percent were detained in airports.

Also, there have been 715 instances of attempts to smuggle goods totaling over 2.547 million manats ($3.265 million) this year. Law enforcers thwarted the smuggle of 137 kg of drugs through the Azerbaijani border.