There are between 7,000 and 8,000 illegal migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina while their influx into the country this year has decreased significantly due to measures taken by police agencies, Bosnia's Security Minister Selmo Cikotic has said, as carried by local media on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Sarajevo Hayat TV, Cikotic explained that temporary accommodation centres have about 6,300 migrants registered, while it is estimated that another 1,500 are staying in private accommodation.

The number of migrants entering the country has decreased significantly, claimed Cikotic. According to him, that is due to increased efforts not just by border police but also by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and entity interior ministers as well as the Intelligence-Security Agency (OSA). They are jointly preventing migrants from entering the country or if they manage to get through, they send them back to the country from which they came as well as prosecuting smugglers.

The concrete result of those efforts is that the 150 to 200 daily entries during the summer have been reduced to 20 or 30 a day in November.

He commented on demands by cantonal authorities who are unhappy with migrant centres being in downtown urban areas.

Una-Sana Canton, for instance, demands that migrants be relocated as it is faced with the highest concentration of migrants attempting to continue on through Croatia to other EU countries. Previously, due to pressure by local authorities, the Bira centre was closed down and migrants were resettled in a village some 20 kilometres away.

Authorities in Velika Kladusa also demand the closure of the Miral centre, located in the very centre of the town. Similar demands are coming from the population near Sarajevo, particularly following an incident in late November when a 36-year old resident was killed after he was confronted by several violent migrants.

The police managed to identify and arrest two suspects for that crime in Belgrade where they fled after the incident.