Belarusian border guards detain armed trespassers
MINSK. April 15 (Interfax) - Belarusian border guards have detained trespassers from the Caucasus armed with a knife.
"Belarusian border guards found three unknown people within 500 meters of the border in the Braslavsky District [Vitebsk Region]. The trespassers tried to threaten a senior officer with a knife in response to the officer's demand that they show their IDs," the press office of the state border committee told Interfax on Monday.
"The unit warned them about the possibility of resorting to arms against them, and then warning shots from an AK-74 were fired up in the air. The detainees turned out to be Russian citizens - two were born in 1991, one in 1981, residents of the Chechen Republic," the press office said.
"A knife and passports were taken from the detainees. Besides this, the natives of the Caucasus, going illegally to Latvia, had two containers with a greenish substance, supposedly naswar," the press office said. "The handcuffed trespassers were brought to a temporary detention facility for further investigation," the press office said.
"Three other natives of the Caucasus, trying to get illegally to the EU countries through the Belarusian border, were detained in the Verkhnedvinsky District," the press office said. "They were 300 meters from the Belarusian-Latvian border and intended to get to Europe to get a job and to obtain refugee's status there," the press office said.
"The investigation on the trespassers is currently being held," the Belarusian state border committee said.