260 irregular migrants held across Turkey

ANKARA

A total of 260 irregular migrants were held across Turkey on Monday, officials said.

Gendarmerie forces held 119 migrants in eastern Van province, according to a statement from provincial gendarmerie command.

The statement said 50 of the migrants are Afghan nationals.

At least 38 Syrian migrants, who entered Turkey from Syria using illegal means, were also held in Altinozu district of southern Hatay province.

In western Mugla province, coast guard units held 10 Palestinian and Yemeni migrants on a rubber boat.

The migrants were trying to reach Europe using illegal means.

Separately, in central Sivas province, police stopped a taxi and held five Afghan migrants.

Coast guard units stopped a boat carrying 32 Afghan migrants off the Aegean coast of northwestern Edirne province before it crossed to Greece.

Also in Kesan district of Edirne, police held 18 irregular migrants from a minibus.

Two suspects were arrested and produced before a court, which remanded them in custody over human smuggling.

In northwestern Canakkale province, 32 Afghan migrants, who were preparing to cross to Greece using illegal routes, were held by police.

Gendarmerie forces stopped two cars over suspicion in northwestern Tekirdag province and detained six migrants who were Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals.

Four suspects were also arrested and they were remanded in custody by a court.

Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross to Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.

Some 268,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018, according to the Interior Ministry.

The migrants were mostly Afghan, Pakistani, Syrian and Iraqi nationals.