Two Afghan nationals were arrested on Saturday by the Serbian police near the border crossing of Batrovci, close to the border with Croatia, on the suspicion that they are part of a criminal group smuggling irregular migrants in Serbia's territory.

The Serbian police found a machine gun and 26 bullets on the two Afghans, and a search was launched to identify and locate the other members of the group, which comprises mostly Afghan nationals, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior said.

Since the launch of operations aimed at preventing irregular migrations on 27 October, the Serbian police have discovered 6,967 irregular migrants, as well as 38 machine guns, 13 pistols and more than 3,700 pieces of ammunition.

Forty-five criminal reports have been filed for the unauthorised crossing of the state border and human trafficking, as have 29 criminal reports related to arms possession, as well as a number of other criminal reports, including for drug possession.

Also, the Serbian Ministry of the Interior has filed 787 misdemeanor reports under the Aliens Act and 404 reports for breaches of the Border Control Act.