The Turkish coast guard has detained 231 illegal immigrants believed to be en route to Italy in a boat in the Aegean Sea, the Demimonde news agency reported Wednesday.
Turkish teams caught the immigrants when they stopped a fishing boat off the coast of Ayvacik, a district of the northwestern Canakkale Province, Demiroren said.
The detainees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Eritrea, Yemen, and Pakistan have been transferred to a repatriation center in Ayvacik, it added.
Two human traffickers, who reportedly took 6,000 U.S. dollars to 7,000 U.S. dollars from each of the immigrants, have been confined.
On Tuesday, Turkish police captured 709 illegal immigrants, including 214 Afghans, in the biggest city Istanbul.
Turkey has recently witnessed an influx of refugees from Afghanistan fleeing escalating violence and turmoil in their homeland. Enditem
