Officers raided locations where they thought wanted people were hiding.

17:31, Thu, Mar 5, 2026 Updated: 17:39, Thu, Mar 5, 2026

Polish Border Guards In Stand-off With Belarusian Counterparts Over Refugees At Border

Border Guard officers made the arrests this week (Image: Getty)

Police in a European country have arrested 140 illegal immigrants over the course of a two-day operation. Officers carried out almost 2,000 checks across the nation as part of a crackdown on wanted people.

Officers from the police and Border Guard swooped on addresses across Poland on Monday (March 2) and Tuesday. They targeted places where they believed wanted individuals were hiding and managed to track down 1,944 suspects. These included 147 foreigners, consisting of 91 Ukrainians, 14 Georgians, eight Belarusians, three Moldovans, two Russians, and 29 people of other nationalities. Of these, 140 were living in the country illegally.

As reported by TVP World, Poland's Interior Minister, Marcin Kierwiński, added on X: "130 proceedings are already underway to return foreign nationals to their home countries."

According to the Polish police, a Brazillian citizen who was wanted for a robbery in 2025 was among those arrested. A Belarusian woman wanted for her role in an organised crime group was also detained.

Three similar operations were carried out in Poland last year, which saw 4,766 people arrested, including 515 immigrants. The country, which is hosting over a million Ukrainian refugees, has seen a surge in migration from the Middle East and Africa since 2021.

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Meanwhile, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has outlined major reforms for migration in the UK. She said it is the alternative to the "fairy tale of open borders" from the Green Party and the "nightmare of Nigel Farage pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world".

The changes include a £10,000 payment per person to leave the UK instead of deportation. The Home Secretary also outlined a new route for student refugees and a new work visa route.

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She said: "Restoring order and control at our border is not a betrayal of Labour values, it is the necessary condition for a Labour government to achieve everything it hopes to."

She added: "I am very clear in the argument that I am making that these are reforms that are consistent with Labour values, and if we don't resolve these problems, others with none of our values will be given the chance to do so instead."