Slovenian police have reported a 17% decline in illegal migration in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period a year ago, that is before the country reintroduced police controls at its borders with Croatia and Hungary.

Police processed 37,212 illegal migrants from January until the end of September, about 7,500 fewer than in the same period a year ago.

Syrians accounted for over a third, their numbers rising 13-fold year-on-year to over 13,000. Afghanistan nationals were the second largest group, but their numbers more than halved to 5,735.

The police also recorded substantial increases in illegal migrants coming from Turkey and Egypt, at 3,314 and 1,190, respectively, as the number of Moroccan and Pakistani nationals more than halved to 2,724 and 1,569, respectively.

The Novo Mesto Police Department, which covers the southeastern part of the country, including the eastern border with Croatia, handled nearly 85% of all cases.

This year until 6 October Slovenian police arrested 434 suspected people smugglers for attempting to smuggle a total of 2,401 migrants. The suspects are mostly Romanians and Ukrainians, according to the Interior Ministry.

Illegal migration has declined since Slovenia reintroduced police controls at its borders with Croatia and Hungary last October to prevent terrorism, extremism and cross-border crime.

Since then, Slovenia has extended the border checks several times, most recently until 21 December this year. The measure has been imposed and extended in lockstep with Italy, which imposed the same regime on its border with Slovenia.

Asked on 18 October whether Slovenia was considering a further extension of the regime, Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said it was difficult to say what the decision would be.

Addressing reporters with his Luxembourg counterpart Leon Gloden, Poklukar said though that the illegal migration situation and the situation globally in general, and in the Middle East in particular, was worse than it was this time last year.