Slovenian and Italian border police on Monday started patrolling the border area between the two countries together in an effort to curb migration flows that have increased this year as well as deter migrants moving along the so-called Balkan route towards Western Europe.

Joint border patrolling, with patrol teams consisting of two Italian and two Slovenian police officers, was introduced in line with an agreement on cross-border police cooperation and should last until September 30.

The police teams will be patrolling the green border and areas where border crossings once used to be, Slovenian police have said, noting that the latest measure would not affect regular traffic and passengers.

Joint teams will patrol a 10-kilometre border area twice to three times a week to prevent the illegal crossing of the border between the two countries, which are both in the Schengen area of passport-free travel.

According to Slovenian police, there have been around 5,300 attempts to illegally cross the border so far this year, which is 2,000 more than in the same period of 2018. The number of migrants moving towards Italy has increased as well.

This year, in the area of responsibility of the police departments of Koper and Gorica, 1,827 migrants were arrested, which is 400 more than last year.