Slovenian police have detained 69 illegal migrants in the last 24 hours after they illegally crossed the border from Croatia, local media said on Friday citing police sources.

Most of the migrants, namely 48 of them, were caught in or around Koper, Ilirska Bistrica and Piran. They included nationals of Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Turkey. Seven of the migrants have applied for asylum in Slovenia, while the rest have been or will be returned to Croatia.

According to STA news agency, in recent days Slovenian police detained up to 100 migrants a day in their attempts to reach the Italian border. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was due in Trieste on Friday to discuss the problem of illegal migration with the regional authorities. Slovenia and Italy recently introduced joint border police patrols to stem illegal migration.