SVK military policemen are now fully engaged in the Mediterranean Sea

The Slovak military policemen who deployed at the start of August on EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia have by now been firmly embedded with a team under German Navy Command. Having mastered operational procedures in the maritime environment, they are intervening alongside their German colleagues directly in the crisis area. After embarking on the operation in the German port of Wilhelmshaven, the first port of call for the military policemen was the Italian port town of Augusta where they replenished materials and supplies before sailing out to sea aboard a German Navy frigate.

The Slovak Republic sent out members of the SVK Military Police to EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia as its contribution to bolstering the collective defence of the European Union's southern border. This is the first maritime operation in which our country has been involved. Under the first rotation, the military policemen will be deployed as part of two five-member boarding teams aboard a Germany Navy ship for a period of 6 months, to be followed by another rotation of troops at the end of January 2018. They are now performing visit, board, search, and seizure(VBSS)missions for which they had passed more-than-a-year-long training prior to their deployment. The aim of the operation is to stop or cut down on the smuggling of people from the African countries to Europe in the face of the current migration crisis and the spread of global terrorism.