Coast guard picks up 44 people off Samothrace
Greek coast guard officers on Saturday intercepted 44 illegal migrants on a boat east of the northern Aegean island of Samothrace.
According to authorities, the migrants were transported to the port of Alexandroupoli, northeastern Greece, for a preliminary inquiry and identification. Meanwhile, a 50-year-old man was detained on charges of human trafficking for allegedly transporting 21 illegal immigrants in a travel trailer on the Orestiada-Alexandoupoli national highway near Kissario, in the region of Evros.
The man was arrested after officers serving at the border patrol station of Didymoteicho carried out an inspection of the Bulgaria-registered vehicle and discovered 20 Syrian nationals and an Iraqi man on board.
According to figures released by the coast guard last month, the number of immigrants and refugees intercepted in the Aegean Sea in the first five months of this year came to 40,297 people, compared to 6,500 people in the same period the previous year.
