Coast guard authorities picked up scores of illegal immigrants in three separate incidents on Saturday.

Yesterday, they were holding a British national who allegedly helped transport about 80 people, 52 of whom were detained on the island of Aegina. The man was identified as Michael James, 45. He was arrested on board the 15-meter, Greek-registered yacht Elena near Agia Marina, Aegina. Coast guard and police officers managed to detain about 52 illegal immigrants “of various nationalities,” the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Authorities believed that about another 30 were still on the island. The yacht was confiscated and its owner was to be taken before the Piraeus prosecutor. The immigrants (eight children, five women and 39 men) were being cared for at a municipal facility.

Earlier, coast guard officers on the island of Evia found 52 migrants on a beach at Kimaxi near the town of Mantoudi and were looking for the vessel that dropped them off. Evia authorities also found 26 Iraqi Kurds on a Ukrainian ship, the Shkval, which was drifting with a rudder problem. The two Ukrainian crewmen were arrested.