Warsaw: More than 180 migrants illegally entered Poland from neighbouring Belarus through a concealed tunnel beneath a forested border area, Polish authorities confirmed on Friday, underscoring the increasingly complex challenges facing the EU’s eastern frontier.
Polish border guards discovered the narrow underground passageway on Thursday near the village of Narewka in the Podlaskie region after unusual activity was detected by surveillance systems. The makeshift tunnel carved under roots and earth and reinforced with wooden supports and metal rods stood only about 1.5 metres high, forcing travellers to crouch as they crept toward Polish territory.
Once the passage was uncovered, authorities moved swiftly. Around 130 of the migrants were detained inside Poland, while dozens remained at large in dense border forests, prompting coordinated search efforts involving the army, police and border patrol units. Electronic monitoring helped estimate the total number who passed through before the tunnel was blocked.
The incident marks at least the fourth tunnel of its kind discovered along the Belarus-Poland frontier this year, raising serious concerns about the ingenuity and persistence of smuggling networks and the evolving tactics used to circumvent one of Europe’s most fortified borders.
Poland has been locked in a protracted border crisis with Belarus since 2021, accusing the Minsk government and by extension its ally Russia of orchestrating irregular migration flows to destabilize the European Union and strain its internal cohesion. Belarus and Russia have consistently rejected these accusations as unfounded.
The tunnel’s entrance was hidden roughly 50 metres inside Belarusian territory, with the exit emerging just 10 metres from Poland’s steel border barrier, officials said a stark illustration of how smugglers exploit natural terrain and infrastructure gaps.
The broader dispute has led Warsaw to enact some of the strictest border controls in the region, including the construction of a multi-kilometre fence and, earlier this year, temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum for those entering from Belarus, a move criticised by human rights groups as conflicting with international obligations.
Humanitarian organizations and rights advocates have also documented increasing use of pushbacks forcibly returning migrants without processing asylum claims at the Belarus border, drawing legal and ethical scrutiny from European watchdogs.
The tunnel episode comes amid escalating security tensions across Europe’s eastern borders. Lithuania, a fellow EU member, recently declared a state of emergency over suspected “hybrid attacks” involving balloons from Belarus, used allegedly for smuggling, adding another layer of regional friction.
In Warsaw, government officials say they remain committed to strengthening frontier security while balancing international legal standards. For now, the discovery of the hidden tunnel highlights both the determination of migrants seeking new opportunities and the persistent geopolitical strains shaping Europe’s migration landscape.