Suspected people smugglers said to have hidden migrants in vehicles have been arrested in Greece.
ADVERTISEMENTSuspected people smugglers said to have hidden migrants in vehicles have been arrested in Greece.
Twelve Iraqis are among 17 people detained by police who say they have dismantled two gangs trafficking migrants to Italy and northern Europe.
In one raid, a small truck was spotted near the Greek-Bulgarian border.
“The traffickers used special compartments inside the vehicles to transfer the migrants, while in at least five different trafficking incidents they facilitated the illegal exit of 29 foreign nationals to Italy,” said Greek Police spokesman Theodoros Chronopoulos.
The closure of the so-called Balkan route has left some 60,000 refugees and migrants fleeing conflict and poverty stranded in Greece.
Refugee & migrant children suffer psychologically from life in limbo in European transit countries https://t.co/kHus86Irkb#ChildrenUprootedpic.twitter.com/vcp17X56jU
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) 5 mai 2017
with Reuters