Border guards

Some 970 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya on March 2, the Italian Coast Guard said, as the numbers attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe continue to rise.

Even before the March 2 arrivals, more than 13,400 people had arrived on Italy's shores so far this year - an increase of 50 to 70 percent compared with 2016 and 2015.

The head of EU border agency Frontex on Feb. 27 criticized charities that rescue migrants off Libya, arguing that they encourage the traffickers who profit from the dangerous Mediterranean crossings.

The EU border agency Frontex stated on Wednesday that the bloc is experiencing high migration pressure, with about 382,000 illegal migrants arriving in European countries in 2016.

Frontex said that although the numbers decreased in comparison to 2015, it was still higher than any annual figure for arrivals in 2010-2014.

A very impressive operation by the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) was conducted on Friday. A HCG patrol boat located a vessel full of drugs and a hot pursuit followed.

The three people on board started to throw the drugs on the water, approximately 2 tons of cannabis.

Five Syrian nationals - three men and two women - were returned by Europe's border agency, Frontex, to Turkey from the Greek island of Lesvos on Thursday as part of a deal between Ankara and Brussels to contain the effects of the migrant crisis in Europe.

Western security officials are warning the Isis terror group may be trying to manipulate refugees into carrying out terrorist attacks.

There are also fears Isis will sneak in trained fighters among the mass movements of people fleeing war, hunger and extreme poverty.

The European Union border control agency Frontex was reinforcing its presence in Greece, a Spiegel Online report said on Tuesday.
 
According to the report, an increased Frontex presence pointed to the EU preparing the ground for a possible cancellation of a deal signed with Turkey regarding migrants.

According German Spiegel online, the EU is preparing to send two FRONTEX forces tasked with monitoring the borders between Greece and FYROM and passport checks at the border points, as it estimates the refugee agreement between the EU and Turkey will fall through.

Twenty-five Slovak police officers will help Bulgaria protect is border with Turkey as part of the effort to tackle the migrant crisis in Europe.

The officers will be deployed for at least a month and will later be replaced by colleagues, news website Dnevnik.bg reports, citing the officials Slovak news agency, TASR.

Less than a year since it was proposed, the new border agency of the EU was declared operational by the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, at a ceremony on Thursday that brought together EU and national leaders at the Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Turkey.