More than 200 migrants detained in Turkey

The Turkish coastguard says that a total of 203 migrants, who were trying to reach Greece from Turkey, were detained in separate operations along the coast on 6 April.

According to Xinhua news agency, the Turkish coastguard detained 39 migrants, including women and children, off the Bodrum district in the southwestern province of Mugla. The group of migrants were on board a small inflatable boat heading toward Greece.

Another 111 undocumented migrants were detained in three different parts of Izmir province, while 53 migrants- who were all Syrian- were held in the provinces of Aydin and Canakkale, the Turkish coastguard said in a statement.

The statement added that five people smugglers were arrested during the operations.
According to data provided by the Turkish coastguard, 4,451 irregular migrants have attempted to reach the Greek islands from Turkey this year.

In related news, the Greek coastguard said they rescued 37 migrants on 6 April, who were on board a rubber boat close to Lesvos island in the eastern Aegean Sea.

In a separate operation conducted by the EU’s border monitoring agency Frontex, 57 migrants on board an inflatable boat, also close to Lesvos island, were detained and transferred to Mytilini, the island’s capital.
According to the EU-Turkey deal from March 2016, all irregular migrants arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey will be sent back to Turkey.

Photo credit: ekathimerini
Caption: The Greek coastguard with a boat with migrants off Levos island