Hungary spending huge sums to equip 3,000 ‘border hunters’

BUDAPEST, Hungary – A Hungarian lawmaker says the government will spend up to 100 billion forints ($340 million) to provide equipment and basic supplies for 3,000 “border hunters” being recruited to guard border fences built last year to stop the flow of migrants trying to enter the country.

Lajos Kosa, head of the governing Fidesz party’s parliamentary group, says the expenditures will be exempt from having to comply with public procurement rules.

Some 400,000 migrants and refugees passed through Hungary last year on their way to Western Europe before Prime Minister Viktor Orban ordered fences built on the country’s southern borders with Serbia and Croatia. Migrants who get past the fence but are caught near the border are usually summarily expelled.

Kosa said the government was expecting another wave of migrants next spring.