By Michael Sauerbier and Axel Lier
Huge chaos at border controls against smugglers and illegal migrants: On Wednesday, the federal police dismantled their new checkpoint on the A12 Warsaw-Berlin motorway. At the same time, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (53, SPD) announced the extension of inpatient checks.
Free travel from Poland to Germany! On Wednesday, federal police dismantled their checkpoint with a light pole and tent behind the border bridge to Poland and opened both lanes towards Berlin. Just a week after they set up the checkpoint to catch smugglers and illegal refugees.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (53, SPD) introduced fixed border controls on October 16th Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Truckers, commuters and shopping tourists rejoice – so do the criminal smugglers. Since the checks began on the Monday before last, the federal police had picked up numerous illegal migrants: 225 on Saturday and Sunday alone, more than in a long time. Minister Faeser announced on Wednesday that the controls would be extended by 20 days – and then again “after consultation with neighboring countries”.
“Ms. Faeser apparently wants to repeal the measure by December at the latest,” said Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (64, CDU), annoyed. “It won’t work that way.” Stübgen demanded: “We need the opportunity to carry out border controls as long as the European measures “do not work to limit migration.”
The federal police are now checking trucks at the Zollhof Oder-West-Center next to the A12 motorway Photo: Olaf Selchow
But why did the federal police already withdraw from the busiest border crossing on “Warschauer Allee” (A12 nickname)? The executive board is silent about this: unreachable by phone, no response to emails. The BZ then found out the reason from officers on site: “We have instructions not to cause any traffic problems,” explained a police officer.
Federal police discovered 18 illegal migrants in a van on the A12 last week Photo: Private
The A12 checkpoint had led to a long backlog: trucks and cars were burning bumper to bumper all the way to Poland, for an average of 45 minutes. The transport operator and driver were fuming. That is why the checkpoint has now been moved to the “Oder-West-Center” customs yard next to the motorway.
Other border checkpoints, however, remained in place, such as on the A15 motorway near Forst. The mobile controls at the “Biegener Hellen” rest stop behind Frankfurt (Oder) will also continue. On the Tuesday before last, the federal police discovered 18 refugees in a van there.
But smugglers and smugglers cannot always enjoy free travel on “Warschauer Allee”. According to BZ information, the federal police want to set up a checkpoint with their Polish colleagues at the former Swiecko border crossing. It’s located between the lanes, has plenty of parking spaces – and traffic there is one lane anyway. There shouldn’t be any backlogs there.