Czech police officers find 48 illegal migrants in a truck driving through South Moravia

South Moravian customs officers found 48 illegal migrants, most likely Syrians and Turks, in a truck's semitrailer, customs officers and police spokespeople have told CTK.

The truck was stopped and checked on the D2 highway near Breclav on Thursday afternoon.

A high-capacity X-ray device revealed the people hiding in the semitrailer. Customs and police officers gradually brought them out, local customs authority spokeswoman Lada Temňáková and police spokesman Bohumil Malášek said.

It was a routine truck check, Temňáková added.

"[The truck] had a Turkish license plate. Two drivers were inside. According to the documentation, they were transporting floor tiles," she added.

However, a high-capacity X-ray apparatus revealed people in the semitrailer before the customs officers even opened it. Police originally estimated the number of people at 20 to 30, but eventually found 47 men and one woman inside .

"They are men and a woman of quite a young age, with no children among them. They claim they are from Syria and were heading for Germany," Temňáková said.

Police will now try to confirm the migrants' identities and their planned destination. According to preliminary information, the police officers have thus far learned from from the refugees themselves that 31 are from Syria and 17 from Turkey.

It is not sure what will happen with them yet, Malášek said. They can be returned where they came from, or they may ask for asylum in the Czech Republic,

The police detained both truck drivers to investigate what role they played in the case. The migrants will be taken to the foreign police stations across the country for further procedure, the police tweeted.

Customs officers have detained migrants in South Moravia over the past months, but never more than a few people at a time.

Most recently, three refugees were caught near the border with Slovakia on a field path in late October. As none of them had their identity document with them, they were sent to police for further investigation.