Nearly 20 arrested over human trafficking

VAN

Security forces have arrested 17 people, including foreign nationals, for involvement in human trafficking in the eastern province of Van, bordering Iran.

The police conducted nine operations between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23, targeting suspected human traffickers and detained 19 people among them three Afghan and three Iran nationals.

Suspects were referred to a local which ruled for the arrests of 17 of them. The suspects were also fined nearly 422,000 Turkish Liras (around $31,000).

The police also seized three vehicles belonging to the suspects.

In the month of January, around 8,700 irregular migrants have been captured in Turkey, according to data from the Presidency of Migration Management.

In the whole of 2021, security forces apprehended 163,000 irregular migrants, rising from 122,000 people captured in the previous year. In 2019, a record number of 455,000 migrants were captured in Turkey.

Recently, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said that 5.3 million foreign nationals, including 4 million refugees, most of them from Syria, currently live in Turkey.