Bucharest, Feb 24 (IANS): Border police in western Romanian county of Arad said on Tuesday that 28 immigrants were caught in the past 24 hours while trying to illegally get out of Romania to Hungary.

At a border crossing in Nadlac, the border police found 20 immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, aged 15-23, in three trucks carrying sparkling mineral water, metal products, boilers and glasses to the Netherlands, Germany and France, Arad Border Police said a press statement.

Further investigation revealed that all of the immigrants were asylum seekers in Romania, while the drivers of the three trucks were Romanian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian citizens, respectively, the Xinhua news reported.

Meanwhile, a policeman found eight young citizens from Afghanistan and Pakistan trying to cross the border on foot early in the morning, at some 100 meters from the border line in Nadlac.

The border between Romania and Hungary is also the eastern border of the Schengen area. Police data showed that the number of immigrants captured at the borders to Schengen area reached 2,011 last year, 2.5 times more than in the previous year.