Sweden implements border checks to control flow of asylum seekers

Sweden has announced the introduction of temporary border checks to control the flow of migrants into the country.

Swedish Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said the step had been decided after police warned a surge in new arrivals posed a threat to public order.

The controls will come into effect from midday local time on Thursday and will last initially for 10 days.

On Wednesday, the first day of the EU-Africa summit, 14 migrants drowned in the latest boat sinking between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos. Seven of those who died were children. Coastguards said they had rescued 27 survivors.

Nearly 200,000 migrants are expected to reach Sweden this year, more per head of population than any other EU nation.

Ygeman said the centre-left government had acted "in order to obtain security and stability... not to limit the number of asylum seekers, but to get better control of the flow of asylum seekers to Sweden".

He added: "Our signal to the rest of the EU is crystal clear - Sweden is the country that has shouldered the greatest responsibility for the refugee crisis.

"If we are to cope with this mutual challenge, the other countries must take their responsibility."

Swedish immigration officials say the introduction of temporary border controls will help them register new arrivals and prevent people from staying in the country illegally.

Fredrik Bengtsson, spokesman for the Swedish Migration Agency, said it was currently picking up people by bus at the border and driving them to its offices, but "once they get there quite a lot don't enter and get registered but disappear".