The police actions, which took place in the week up to June 13, also led to more than 100 possible victims of human trafficking being identified, Europol said.

During the operation, coordinated by the EU border agency Frontex, checks on almost 1 million persons and 200,000 vehicles were carried out at sea, land and air borders, mainly on heavily utilised routes into Europe.

Fifteen countries from across the EU participated in the actions, alongside Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, Britain and Liechtenstein. About 22,500 law enforcement officers took part.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Angus MacSwan)