File photo. [AP]
Five people have been arrested near Greece’s northeastern land border with Turkey for allegedly ferrying west towards Thessaloniki, on behalf of smuggling rings, migrants who had illegally entered the country.
Police said Friday that one of the suspects was caught driving a car with 12 passengers crammed into it. Smaller numbers were involved in the other arrests.
Despite the fence that Greece has built along much of the Evros border with Turkey, thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa still cross over every year in pursuit of a better life in the European Union.
The majority pay smugglers to get them into Greece and then to move them on towards the continent’s prosperous heartland.
