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1.7.8. Risk of border-control authorities increasingly confronted with crossborder
crimes and travellers with the intent to commit crime or terrorism within
the EU
As a corollary to strengthened surveillance and checks along the external borders, bordercontrol
authorities will be increasingly confronted with the detection of cross-border crimes
such as THB, drug trafficking and the smuggling of excise goods, as well as with detections of
cross-border crime committed on exit, like the smuggling of stolen assets, in particular
vehicles. The Eastern Mediterranean route across the external borders with Turkey remains
the main channel of entry for heroin into the EU. The Western Balkan route is also often used
as at transit region for hashish and heroin held by Western Balkan criminal groups. There is an
increasing risk of hashish and cocaine trafficking activity in the Western Mediterranean area,
from Morocco to Spain, sometimes combined with the smuggling of migrants. These groups
are operating with increasingly sophisticated means, such as the use of small aircraft.
Cigarette smuggling significantly affects the work of border authorities on the eastern land
border and the land borders with Western Balkan countries. It is also increasingly reported at
sea and air borders. The modi operandi range from ‘ant’ smuggling, carried by individuals, to
large-scale enterprises. The detection of cigarette smuggling consumes the time and
resources of border control authorities.
Trafficking of oil products is mainly reported at the eastern European borders with the
Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine, as well as with Balkan states. Even though petrol
smuggling is commonly believed to have only a limited and local impact on the EU economy,
fuel smugglers present a challenge to the management of the movement of passengers at the
borders.
Stolen vehicle identification is mainly linked to the controls at land borders and, to a lesser
extent, sea borders. Intelligence received from Member States also indicates an increase in
the trafficking of stolen vehicles leaving the EU at the external borders between Bulgaria and
Turkey, and also an increase in stolen heavy vehicles, machines, buses and trailers detected
at the external land borders with Belarus and Ukraine.
Given the sophistication of the modus operandi, the detection of stolen vehicles relies mostly
on the profiling of drivers and expertise in vehicle identification techniques; hence
collaboration between law-enforcement authorities operating in the territory and bordercontrol
authorities is extremely important.
THB is not easily detected at the borders. Nevertheless, this criminal activity is inescapably
related to the movement of people, including the movement across borders, and thus bordercontrol
authorities’ efforts can prove instrumental in combating it. According to information
received from Member States, Brazilians, Chinese, Nigerians, Ukrainians and Vietnamese
remain among the nationalities most commonly detected as victims of human trafficking in
the EU.
A worrying trend is the increasing number of detections of illegal border-crossing of minors
and pregnant women, in particular along the Western Mediterranean route, as criminal groups
take advantage of immigration legislation in Member States preventing the return of these
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