Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos (center) inaugurated on Saturday a new migrant detention center on the Aegean island of Samos, a common entry point for illegal immigrants attempting to sneak into Greece from Turkey.

The government inaugurated on Saturday a 2.6-million-euro migrant detention center on the Aegean island of Samos as authorities detained more than a hundred illegal immigrants in seperate operations over the weekend.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos officially opened the migrant center on Samos, which lies close to the Greek-Turkish border, and said that it will be staffed by nine municipal workers and numerous police officers.

Meanwhile, authorities said yesterday coast guard officers detained 125 illegal immigrants on the Aegean islands of Lesvos, Kos and Agathonisi.

On Saturday, authorities had detained 17 illegal immigrants found stranded on a beach in Samos.

They told authorities they had sailed with a cargo ship from Tripoli, Libya, and had transferred to an inflatable raft which was destroyed upon landing.

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants try to cross into Greece every year with many of them being detained in the Samos area.