Police report record high in illegal migration

Federal police chief Dieter Romann told journalists in Potsdam that his officers had stopped 57,000 people without permission to be in the country.

Of these 27,000 were detained in Germany, while a further 30,000 were stopped before they reached the Federal Republic.

Most of those people came over the borders from Austria and France.

“The number coming through the southern border has quadrupled, while the number coming through the western border has doubled” said Romann.

The police also arrested 2,100 people smugglers in 2014, an increase from 1,535 in the previous year.

“Illegal immigration is, next to international Islamic terrorism, the greatest challenge the federal police faces at the moment ,” said Romann.

“Our colleagues are working to the limits of their capabilities.”