Almost 400 migrants have been detained by the police since July in Estonia after a surge in illegal crossings at the Latvian-Belarusian border. Estonia is used as a transit country to get to Scandinavia rather than as a final destination. The migrants caught by police are detained and then sent back to Latvia in groups.

On Friday at around 3:30 p.m., a citizen informed police that eight dark-skinned men had exited a vehicle on J. Sütiste tee in Mustamäe, attracting attention.

After the men got out, the vehicle left the scene and the men began moving around the area.

Silver Hanikat, operations manager of the North Prefecture, said every additional pair of eyes is a great help to police in apprehending illegal immigrants.

"Thanks to the promptly provided information, police officers were able to respond quickly and detained the group of eight near an apartment building. Two men required medical assistance and were taken to hospital for further examination," he explained.

According to preliminary information, seven of those detained are from Somalia and one is from Algeria.

"All the detained men were in Estonia illegally and did not have any documents with them," the operations manager added.

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