ISTANBUL, Nov 9 (NNN-ANADOLU) — The Turkish coast guard, captured a total of 273 illegal migrants, who tried to sneak into Greece from Turkey’s Aegean coast, in the last three days, the force announced.
On Thursday and early Friday, the coast guard teams stopped 53 irregular migrants, including 30 Palestinians, 11 Afghans, six Syrians, five Yemenis and one Iraqi, in operations carried out near the districts of Bodrum and Datca in the province of Mugla.
The illegal migrants were attempting to reach Greek islands by inflatable boats, the coast guard said.
Another 111 illegal migrants were caught in three operations on the same days, near Didim district in the southwestern province of Aydin. Among them are 58 Syrians, 36 Somalians, nine Palestinians, four South Africans, one each from Ethiopia, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt.
In addition, a total of 109 illegal migrants were seized near the provinces of Izmir and Aydin, in separate operations on Wednesday, the coast guard said.
This year, a total of 51,488 migrants have attempted to reach Greece via Turkey, up from 25,398 over the same period in 2018, according to the latest figures released by the Turkish coast guard.– NNN-ANADOLU
