(7 Oct 2016) A day after the European Union launched its new border and coast guard force, its officers started patrolling the EU's external border with Turkey in Bulgaria.
While most migrants reached Europe last year by boats from Turkey to Greece, this year the dangerous sea route was largely shut and the spotlight fell on the main land frontier via which migrants were trying to enter the bloc.
Bulgaria shares a 259-kilometre (161-mile) land border with Turkey and so far has sealed off nearly half of it by erecting a barbed wire fence aimed at keeping out illegal migrants.
Work is continuing and plans are for most of the frontier to be blocked off by a fence.
According to Stoyan Ivanov, deputy chief of the Bulgarian border police, this year alone his men have detained more than 4,000 illegal trespassers and have prevented 30-thousand attempts to illegally cross the border.
Dutch border guard Erik was one of the 120 officers from EU countries on duty at this border on Friday.
With his Bulgarian colleague, Krasimir, he was patrolling a stretch just east of the city of Svilengrad.
Erik has spent a month in Bulgaria with the EU's already existing Frontex agency, from which the new task force was built.
It will have some 320 million euro (357 million US dollars) in funding until 2020 - more than double Frontex's staff and new powers.
EU countries will establish a reserve pool of 1,500 guards and technical equipment to rapidly deploy to countries battling heavy migration flow.
As part of its expanded mandate, the new force will also be involved in the repatriation of migrants who have their asylum claims rejected or are considered a security threat.
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