Migrant smugglers nabbed
Authorities have arrested four suspected traffickers who helped smuggle 63 illegal immigrants from Turkey to the island of Evia, central Greece, officials said yesterday. Police arrested a 37-year-old Greek truckdriver in Mesohori, Evia, in the early hours of Tuesday morning as he was on his way to pick up the migrants from a remote beach, officers said. A 45-year-old Greek man who had driven out to meet him was also arrested. Police said that the second suspect had sailed some of the migrants to Evia from Turkey aboard a motorboat. Meanwhile, coast guard officers in Piraeus arrested two people, a 52-year-old Greek and a 35-year-old Romanian, on board a British-flagged vessel which is thought to be one of the motorboats involved in the smuggling operation. The coast guard also tracked down in the port of Rafina, northeast of Athens, the other vessel which was allegedly used by the smugglers. Police are looking for a Greek and a Romanian national who have allegedly smuggled migrants into Greece 15 times since April.
