A suspected member of a migrant smuggling gang has been arrested a day after he allegedly crashed a car overcrowded with migrants during a police chase near the land border with Turkey, authorities said Sunday.
All seven passengers in the car required hospital treatment for injuries suffered in Friday’s crash in the Evros border region, after which the suspect managed to exit the damaged vehicle and escape on foot, a police statement said.
Despite Greek authorities erecting a high fence along much of the Evros border with Turkey to stop illegal immigration, thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa still clandestinely cross the frontier every year seeking a better life in the European Union. The overwhelming majority pays smuggling rings to ferry them on from Greece deep into the continent’s prosperous heartland.
Over the past week, police have arrested a total 13 suspected smugglers ferrying a total 71 people in cars from the Evros border area towards Thessaloniki ahead of the next stage of their voyage north and west.
So far this year, just over 9,300 people have illegally entered Greece by land and sea, according to United Nations data. Nearly 2,300 of them crossed the Evros border, while the largest single destination was Crete that has seen over 4,100 arrivals – all who crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.
