Controls at border crossings between the Czech Republic and Slovakia will become more relaxed, as Czech police will no longer stop every vehicle but will only resort to random checks, Slovakia’s TASR agency reported on Wednesday, Agerpres reported.

The measure will be valid until January 25, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic, Vit Rakušan, said.

The government in Prague intends to reduce the number of police, military and customs officers stationed at border crossings.

“We are reducing the number of soldiers from 80 to 40, and customs officers from 30 to 20,” Rakusan said.

He thanked Slovakia: “Following discussions between ministers and police chiefs, cooperation between the Czech and Slovak police has improved significantly. On the territory of Slovakia, there were joint checks conducted by both Slovak and Czech police, and it turned out to be an effective method,” the minister said.

The Czech government introduced border control with Slovakia on September 29, initially for 10 days, due to the increase in the number of illegal migrants. Meanwhile, the event was continued three times.

Border controls could be in place until March 2023 at the latest, and Rakusan hopes the situation will calm down by then.

Czech authorities monitored almost 2.5 million people, apprehending 9,300 illegal immigrants and 134 human traffickers. Most of the migrants came from Syria and were heading to Germany and Austria.

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