Ljubljana - Slovenian police recorded 4,333 attempts at illegal crossing of the border in the first five months of the year, which is 75% more than in the same period last year, when 2,466 such attempts were recorded. Afghanis account for almost a quarter of those intercepted, the police statistics show.

The number of attempts at illegal crossing of the border by citizens of Afghanistan more than doubled to 1,036, while a significant increase in the number of citizens of India (from 13 to 276) and Cuba (from 0 to 224) was also recorded.

Almost half of the recorded attempts fell under the jurisdiction of the Koper Police Directorate, while the Novo Mesto Police Directorate has seen the number of attempts quadruple since last year.

In the first five months of 2022, the number of intentions to submit a request for international protection was four times higher than in the same period last year, totalling 3,798, mostly on account of the increased number of refugees from Afghanistan.

Administrative units have processed 5,749 requests for temporary protection, almost all filed by Ukrainian citizens.