Daily Sabah (Turkey)

Over 330 illegal immigrants held across Turkey

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At leAst 335 undocument­ed migrants have been held across Turkey on Friday. In the eastern Erzurum province, security units have held 131 undocument­ed migrants found in a truck at the Aşkale patrolling point on Erzurum-Erzincan roadway. The truck driver was arrested at the scene on charges of human smuggling. Separately, 101 undocument­ed migrants, including Afghan and Pakistani nationals, were rounded up in Başkale district of the eastern Van province. The migrants include 14 women and 11 children.

Also in Erzincan, an eastern Turkish province, gendarmeri­e held 55 undocument­ed migrants from Afghanista­n, Pakistan and Bangladesh in a van during road controls.

The migrants told security units that each person had paid TL 3,000 ($624) in order to be taken to Istanbul. The 38-year old driver, identified as Aytaç Y., was arrested at the scene.

In the central Anatolian province of Kırşehir, 48 undocument­ed migrants were held by security units during road controls at Ankara-Kayseri highway. Migrants included 35 Afghans, 11 Pakistanis and two Myanmar nationals. They said they had paid $1,500-5,500 per person. They were brought into Iran by air from their country of origin and said they had illegally crossed into Turkey’s Van province on foot. Later, they were handed with fake identifica­tion cards and promised to be taken to Ankara and Istanbul. The drivers of the vans were arrested.

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