Migrants Crisis: Hungary Seize Refugee Train Arriving From Croatia

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Hungarian authorities have seized a train bringing refugees into the country from Croatia, disarming 40 police onboard and detaining the driver after more than 4,000 refugees arrived across their border, the head of the Hungarian disaster unit has said. Aljazeera has more:

Gyorgy Bakondi said on Friday that the Croatian train that brought the refugees to Magyarboly came without any prior notice, like the rest of the new arrivals coming on other trains and buses. Hungary registered and disarmed the 40 police who escorted the train, he said, according to a video posted on M1 state television’s website. Zoltan Kovacs, government spokesperson, said the incident was “a very serious border violation”.

“A very serious border incident has happened because a train arrived in Magyarboly, which had more than a thousand onboard, without any warning and was accompanied by 40 Croatian policemen into Hungarian territory without any prior notice and permit, which is a very serious border violation and there are suspicions of crimes.”

“An investigation is under way into this. The driver of the train has been arrested, and my Hungarian colleagues have taken action in relation to the 40 Croatian policemen.” However, Croatian police said none of its officers escorting the train had been disarmed or arrested. “There was no disarming or arrests. It is not true. There was an agreement about the escort between the police officers from the two sides in advance,” police spokeswoman Jelena Bikic told Reuters news agency.