Police in the northeastern Evros border region have arrested seven alleged members of migrant-smuggling rings in recent days for trying to ferry deeper into Greece dozens of people who had illegally entered from Turkey.
Police said all seven suspects were foreign nationals but provided no further details. In each case they are accused of squashing up to ten people into cars which they drove west towards Thessaloniki, from where the migrants would continue their journey towards Europe’s prosperous heartland.
One of the suspects was found to lack a driver’s license while one of the cars used by the smugglers had been stolen from the Greater Athens region, police said. All the arrests were made over the past three days on highways and minor roads near the towns of Alexandroupoli and Orestiada. A total 39 migrants were found.
So far this year more than 2,100 people have entered Greece by crossing the Evros land border with Turkey along much of which Greek authorities have erected a wall to prevent migrant incursions, while a total 8,400 have arrived by land or sea. Some 3,500 crossed the Mediterranean Sea in small boats from Libya to the southern island of Crete.
In comparison, some 7,000 people surreptitiously crossed the Evros border last year, when total arrivals, including by sea, approached 49,000.
