Border guards detain 12 Iranians for illegal border-crossing

Officers from the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service detained 12 Iranian citizens in the northeastern Ignalina District soon after midnight on Tuesday after they illegally crossed the country's border. They all later asked for asylum.

The officers spotted footsteps near the village of Lazinkos near the Belarusian border. They led to an uninhabitable house in the village where nine men and three women were found. They all produced Iranian passports. They later asked for asylum in Lithuania.

In the middle of December, Lithuanian border guards also detained ten Iranian who crossed the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. And another 14 were detained in late January. They all also asked for asylum in Lithuania.