GNR soldiers who participated in a four-month mission by the European agency Frontex in Italy returned to Lisbon on Tuesday after rescuing more than a thousand migrants and finding nine boats.
20 soldiers from the Coastal Control Unit (UCC) of the National Republican Guard, who make up the crew of the coastal patrol boat Bojador, participated in Crotone, Italy, in the mission of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). as part of operational coordination at the external borders of the European Union and returned to Lisbon at 15:00 on Tuesday.
During the 112 days of the mission, the military covered more than 1,130 hours and traveled about 12,248 nautical miles, finding nine vessels, seven of which were intercepted, according to GNR.
The GNR indicates that the military participated in several search and rescue missions and rescued 1,005 migrants along with other forces, namely the Guardia di Finanza and the Italian Coast Guard, with 387 migrants (272 men, 38 women and 77 children) being transported to the Coast Guard boat “Bojador”.
The main objectives of this mission, which ran from 22 March to 12 July, were to monitor the border, control illegal immigration flows, combat cross-border crime, strengthen European cooperation at the Coast Guard level and support search and rescue operations.