33 illegal migrants captured in Ayvalık

BALIKESİR / İZMİR

DHA photo

Turkish gendarmerie have captured 33 illegal migrants, including a baby, as they were hiding in an olive grove in the resort Aegean town of Ayvalık, Anatolia news agency has reported.

The migrants, who were from Afghanistan, Burma, Syria and Palestine, were transported from different provinces in Turkey and left near the E-87 highway in Ayvalık in preparation for a passage to Lesbos in Greece.

Those detained included three children, one baby and one woman. After health checks, they were taken to the Ayvalık Illegal Migrant Waiting Center pending deportation.

On Feb. 12, 45 illegal migrants were captured on a boat in the Aegean Sea, bound for Lesbos. Turkish Coast Guard officials subsequently brought the migrants to İzmir’s Dikili district.