Lithuanian border guards detained 1,288 migrants in 2025 who had entered Latvia from Belarus and later attempted to reach Western Europe – mainly Germany – via Lithuania and Poland. That compares with 540 detentions in 2024.
Most of those detained said they had flown from their countries of origin to Russia using valid travel documents, then travelled by car to Belarus. With the help of smugglers, they crossed into Latvia before being picked up at prearranged locations and transported westward.
Others reported travelling from their home countries via the United Arab Emirates or Turkey directly to Belarus. Among those detained last year, the largest groups were citizens of Somalia, 459 people, and Afghanistan, 162.
Of the migrants travelling via Latvia, 825, or 64%, were detained by Lithuanian officers, while 436 were stopped by Polish authorities. After processing, Lithuanian border guards typically return them to Latvian officials.
The border service said 17% of those detained had fled foreigner accommodation centres in Latvia, where they had been placed after being caught by Latvian border guards and applying for asylum. While their applications were under review, the migrants were allowed to move freely within Latvia, a provision some used to leave the country and continue west through Lithuania and across internal EU borders.
Most migrants travelled by car with the assistance of smugglers, sometimes in groups of more than 10. Authorities also identified cases of migrants attempting to use scheduled bus services, often with forged documents, other people’s travel papers or none at all.
Lithuanian border guards last year launched 85 pretrial investigations into human smuggling and detained 101 suspected transporters. By nationality, most were citizens of Ukraine (26), Latvia (24), Lithuania (17) and Estonia (11).
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