Human smuggler busted while hiding refugees in wedding car in Turkey’s south

Salim Uzun - Antalya

Security forces have nabbed a suspected human smuggler in southern Turkey while he was hiding more than a dozen refugees in a wedding car. 

A Mercedes Vito van was halted by the gendarmerie forces on the highway between Antalya and Burdur provinces early Aug. 29.

The vehicle was decorated like a wedding car, but eight Afghan and three Pakistani refugees came out of it, instead of a bride and a groom.

The refugees, as well as a Palestinian citizen who is the suspected human smuggler, have been detained.

“The car was suspicious, because it was a single wedding car, not a convoy, travelling in the middle of the night,” a gendarmerie source said on condition of anonymity.

While Afghan and Pakistani refugees are expected to be deported to their countries, the Palestinian citizen will face criminal charges in Turkey.