Kübra Chohan
16 May 2018•Update: 17 May 2018
By Burak Akay, Mehmet Yavas, and Serhat Zafer
CANAKKALE/SIVAS, Turkey
Security forces on Wednesday held a total of 476 undocumented migrants across Turkey, security sources said.
In the northwestern Canakkale province, the gendarme forces rounded up 74 Afghans and Syrians in the Ayvacik district, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The migrants were planning to cross into the Greek island of Lesbos, the sources said.
Separately in the central Anatolian Sivas province, police stopped a passenger bus for a routine control on the Sivas-Erzincan highway, and rounded up 14 undocumented Afghan migrants.
In the eastern Elazig province, after being alerted to the presence of too many people on board a bus along the Elazig-Bingol road, gendarmerie forces detained 22 migrants.
Among the migrants were nationals of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
In the northwestern Edirne province, security personnel held a total of 366 undocumented migrants.
Security units rounded up the migrants during patrols in Kemalkoy, Bosnakoy and Ahirkoy villages, and Uzunkopru, Ipsala and Lalapasa districts.
The migrants included Syrians, Algerians, Palestinians, Moroccans, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Afghans, Bangladeshis, and Eritreans.
All migrants were referred to provincial migration authorities.
Turkey has been the main route for migrants trying to cross into Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.
