The new Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico announced plans to strengthen the country’s southern border to prevent illegal crossings at a press conference on Monday evening, right before the beginning of a an unprecedented police operation, which was meant as a deterrent to human traffickers in the area. The operation was successfully concluded overnight.

Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, “We are seriously concerned that the migration situation could deteriorate significantly in the short term,” Fico told journalists, as quoted by the local daily Felvidék. 

The prime minister recalled that over 46,000 migrants crossed into Slovakia this year and criticized the previous caretaker government for not doing enough to prevent the crossings. From now on, he added, regular patrols will be monitoring all the main entry points.

Slovakia stands ready to prevent any future wave of illegal migration, Fico stressed, explaining that the intelligence cooperation between Bratislava and Budapest allows the country to deploy the necessary troops and equipment in time, whenever it’s needed.

To showcase the Slovak police’s deterrence capabilities, the government conducted a large-scale demonstration with hundreds of officers along significant portions of the border overnight. The operation involved special equipment such as drones, motorboats, heat cameras, and water cannons, as well as mounted patrols aided by dogs.

According to Police Chief Rastislav Polakovič, it was the biggest police operation in Slovak history.

“With this operation, we sent a clear message to all illegal migrants, but especially to the human traffickers, and made them understand that with the new government comes a new attitude to illegal migration,” Internal Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said on Tuesday morning as the operation concluded.

The minister added that no arrests were made, but the police successfully deterred two groups of migrants from attempting to cross the border. 

Furthermore, Šutaj Eštok said some of the equipment used in the operation was borrowed from the Czech Republic, but immediate additional procurement remains a priority of the government. The minister also stated that PM Fico is planning a visit to Hungary as his first foreign trip since the election, hoping to reach a cooperation agreement with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán about the protection of both the Slovak and Schengen borders.