Five suspected members of migrant-smuggling gangs have been arrested in two days near Greece’s northeastern land border with Turkey driving dozens of migrants in horrendously overloaded cars west towards Thessaloniki, police said.
A police statement Wednesday said one of the suspects was caught Tuesday behind the wheel of a car stuffed with 12 migrants – well over twice the normal passenger load – believed to have surreptitiously crossed the Turkish border. The second suspect was arrested with five migrants in his car in the Evros region.
Another three people were taken into custody Monday for similar alleged offenses, carrying a total 17 migrants in two cars.
All five suspects were only identified as foreign nationals.
More than 2,400 people have entered Greece illegally since January 1 by crossing the land border in the Evros region, out of a total of nearly 10,000 arrivals by land and sea. The Evros area is the second most important entry point, after the southern island of Crete that has seen 4,300 arrivals so far this year.
