Nearly 250 migrants apprehended in Turkey’s west, south

İZMİR/KİLİS

At least 246 irregular migrants have been detained in security operations across Turkey, according to Demirören News Agency.

Turkish gendarmerie teams in the Aegean province of İzmir were tipped off that a group of foreign nationals would be dispatched to the province’s coasts by trucks.

Following an operation carried out with the help of a drone, a truck believed to carry migrants was stopped by security forces on a highway.

The units apprehended 73 migrants, mainly from Afghanistan, who were hiding inside a truck while detaining two people for allegedly being involved in human trafficking.

Receiving a similar tip-off on the following day, the teams caught 76 Afghani, 39 Iraqi, eight Iranian, eight Egyptian, three Yemeni and 15 Syrian immigrants advancing in scattered groups in the same location this time.

The migrants were transferred to the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management after routine procedures.

Separately, security forces held 24 irregular migrants in the country’s southeastern province of Kilis.

Police teams carried out an operation upon the notice that a group of immigrants had entered an olive grove and a house.

In the operation, 24 Syrian nationals were held and three suspects allegedly organizing the migrant smuggling were arrested.

Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution, such as those from Syria and Afghanistan.