“Police used their guns to immobilise the two vehicles. At first they fired into the air and then at the tyres, forcing the cars to stop. Two passengers were hurt by ricochets,” police said in a statement to local media.

One policeman also sustained injuries. The drivers of the cars, carrying 12 Afghans and Pakistanis, had refused to stop at the border between Serbia and Romania, which is part of the European Union but not of the Schengen zone.

Romania has seen several hundred migrants try to enter the country this year as people-smugglers seek new ways into the EU. Earlier this month authorities even intercepted two boats carrying migrants across the Black Sea.