Unions claim that there are not enough troops to monitor the region’s road perimeters 24 hours a day.
The three principal unions claim that it is not possible to man a 24 hour border control. JUCIL claims that complete border closure is impossible with the current troops and therefore at the moment, strategic controls are being carried out only on main roads.
Meanwhile, the Guardia Civil association AEGC says it too cannot see that an airtight border closure is viable, not even by engaging the entire service of officers. To cover 24 hours a day, the AEGC estimates that many more troops would be needed and for this the army would have be deployed on the streets. However, both groups consider that such a drastic move is not necessary and emphasised that current checkpoints serve to deter offenders.
The AUGC also considers it would be quite difficult to close all roads to control vehicle access and point out that many more troops would be needed, since there are many regional roads through which the main access roads to the province can be circumvented.
The Vega Baja is a perfect example of the problem facing security forces in monitoring all access roads at all times. This area and the Region of Murcia share dozens of kilometres of regional border, some urban areas separated by a single street. In Pilar de la Horadada for example police checkpoints are centred on the N-332 and the Alicante-Cartagena motorway, but residents can drive across the regional border through countless back roads.
In Orihuela, checkpoints are focused on the Alicante-Murcia motorway, which has a daily average of almost 40,000 vehicles passing through. However, residents of both sides of the border know the area well and if they want to avoid police checkpoints, they can easily do so by using back roads.
In Pilar de la Horadada, sources from the local hospitality sector revealed that the recent announcement of the border closure was followed almost immediately by the arrival of people from Madrid and from neighbouring Murcia. The influx was especially noticeable at the weekend when local supermarket workers reported a large increase in shoppers, many of whom were not part of their well known regular clientele. Sources there have confirmed that Local Police and Guardia Civil have now established stricter controls.