One of the cars used to drive migrants west from the Turkish border. [Handout/Hellenic Police]
Two people have been arrested in the northeastern Evros region on suspicion of belonging to smuggling rings that picked up migrants who had illegally crossed the land border with Turkey and drove them west towards Thessaloniki, authorities said Sunday.
A police statement said the two separate arrests were made Saturday in the areas of Didymoteicho and Kyprinos. The suspects were only identified as foreign nationals.
In the one case the suspect was stopped driving a car with seven migrants squashed into it, and the other suspect had six people in his vehicle.
Although Greek authorities have built a fence along much of the Evros land border with Turkey, thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa still try to get across, hoping to move on from Greece to seek a better life in Europe’s prosperous heartland.
So far this year, about 2,000 people have entered the country across the Evros border, according to United Nations data.