ISTANBUL (AA) - Interview rooms at Istanbul's airports and at the city's largest bus terminal have helped Turkish authorities deport more than 300 suspected foreigner fighters, the Istanbul counter-terrorism department told The Anadolu Agency Thursday.
A team of 40 police officers had received one month of training on "profiling, risk analysis, monitoring and questioning methods."
"The rooms were formed on May 14, 2014 at Ataturk Airport, Sabiha Gokcen Airport and Grand Istanbul Bus Terminal," the department said. "Officers waited for flights from many countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Russia and bus travels to provinces on the Turkish-Syrian border."
Officials found 384 out of 1,968 foreigners, who were interviewed, to be "risky" and have deported them.
Turkey continues to tighten security measures after claims that suspected foreign fighters from European countries were crossing into combat areas in Syria through Turkey.
Authorities have deported 1,300 people and issued exclusion bans against 12,800 others as part of efforts to prevent people from joining Daesh.
Nearly 71,000 people were detained in 2014 and 54,000 in 2013 as they were trying to cross the Turkish border illegally.
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