According to the data of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), the so-called "Western Balkan Route", which also includes Albania, this year marked the largest decrease in irregular migrants, compared to all other main routes migration to the EU.

According to FRONTEX, in the nine months of this year, around 17 cases of irregular migration were registered on the Western Balkan route, a decrease of 79% compared to the same period last year.

Most of the recorded irregular immigrants were from Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan.

According to FRONTEX, the number of irregular border crossings in the European Union from all irregular migration routes fell by 42%, to around 166 cases in the first nine months of this year.

The Central Mediterranean route recorded a 64% decrease in irregular border crossings, while the eastern land border and the route through West Africa saw the highest increases, with 192% and 100% respectively of irregular migrant crossings to European Union countries.

The three main countries of origin of irregular immigrants who have targeted European Union countries, according to FRONTEX data, are Syria, Mali and Ukraine.

FRONTEX said over three thousand officers and personnel have been deployed across Europe, including Albania, to help manage the EU's external borders.

According to the Strategic Risk Analysis that FRONTEX published a while ago for 2024 "the main migratory routes, such as the Eastern, Central and Western Mediterranean and the West African route, are likely to maintain irregular migratory flows in the same proportions for the years next".

Meanwhile, according to the FRONTEX analysis, the Western Balkans, while it has marked a significant decrease in irregular migration, "continues to be a transit region for the trafficking of various types of drugs, smuggled or produced in Europe such as cocaine, hashish and synthetic drugs ".

"The seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs from the discovery of coded communications and thousands of arrests worldwide, according to Frontex, showed an alarming picture of the scale of drug-related crime in recent years."

"Drug trafficking networks have become more aggressive, taking advantage of every opportunity to make a quick profit by offering ever larger quantities," says the Frontex analysis. /VoA