Three men arrested for migrant smuggling outside Patra
Three men were arrested by Corinth police on Friday after being stopped on the Athens-Patra highway and found to be carrying 20 undocumented migrants from Syria to the western port of Patra.
Police officers arrested a 32-year-old Greek, a 36-year-old Iraqi and a 28-year-old Bulgarian who were hiding 20 Syrians in a people carrier.
The first two suspects were driving a car ahead of a small van being driven by the Bulgarian and carrying the undocumented migrants.
The migrants told investigators that they had been picked up from Athens a few hours earlier and were being driven to Patra, where they said they were to be put on a ferry to Italy.
The 20 undocumented migrants were also taken into custody for questioning and processing, and may face deportation, according to the Athens-Macedonia News Agency.