“Several thousand people, a total of more than 10 thousand people, still remain on the territory of Belarus,” said Moravetsky, quoted by RIA Novosti.
He added that those who returned home from the Belarusian-Polish border realized “the hopelessness of this situation”.
Moravetsky noted that the detained suspects are “persons of different nationalities, including Western European, Middle Eastern”.
“It can be seen that the international mafia is participating in helping Lukashenka to use these unfortunate people in the political crisis on the border,” the prime minister added.
Earlier, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that there is a "mafia structure" in the European Union that ensures the transit of refugees from the Middle East through Belarus.
According to him, the "structure" has its own cells in Germany, France and other states.
Also in July, the Belarusian president announced the presence in Lithuania of criminal groups that are engaged in transporting illegal immigrants to the republic.