ADDS NEW NUMBER OF DETAINED MIGRANTS; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE
By Goksel Kayseri, Cihan Demirci, Yusuf Sahbaz and Ferdi Uzun
EDIRNE / IZMIR / AYDIN, Turkey (AA) – A total of 189 irregular migrants were held across Turkey, according to security sources on Saturday.
In Turkey's northwestern Edirne province, the security forces held seven irregular migrants after stopping a suspicious vehicle in the Havsa district.
In another operation in the same province, police also stopped another vehicle carrying two Afghan migrants.
Separately, the gendarmerie forces rounded up 109 irregular migrants in the Aegean province of Izmir.
The migrants — including women and children — were mainly from the Central African Republic and Congo.
The Turkish Coast Guard rounded up 23 irregular migrants, including women and children, in the Aegean sea off Izmir province while trying to cross the sea by boat.
The migrants are from Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, Eritrea and Cameroon.
Meanwhile, the coast guard officers also detained 48 irregular migrants in the Aegean Sea off Kusadasi district in Aydin province.
A total of seven people were arrested on human trafficking charges.
All of the migrants were referred to provincial migration directorates.
Turkey has been a main route for irregular migrants trying to cross to Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
Some 265,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018 as of Oct. 15, according to the Interior Ministry.
