The Hungarian government will double the number of soldiers patrolling the borders “in light of increasing migration pressure”, Szilard Nemeth, state secretary at the defence ministry, told a press conference on Sunday.
Nemeth spoke at the border police base at Madaras, in south-eastern Hungary, and said that last year, the number of illegal entrants had grown almost tenfold, to 3,299.
He added that the authorities expected that number to grow further.
Nemeth said that Hungarian soldiers had been patrolling the borders with police officers since 2015.
Lieutenant general Gabor Borondi, deputy commander of the Hungarian Army, said that the number of soldiers in the border control mission would increase from 50 to 100 on Monday.
