A group of 39 migrants, including fifteen minors, who were trying to enter Greece from Turkey by crossing a river were arrested, Greek police said on Wednesday evening May 3.
The group included thirteen men, eleven women and fifteen minors, police said in a statement, without specifying their nationalities.
The migrants had been taken by rubber dinghy by smugglers to an islet in the middle of the river, where they had been abandoned.
In 2020, Greece erected a steel barrier over 37 kilometers in this remote area in the northeast of the country after tens of thousands of migrants tried to cross it, clashing for days with Greek security forces. .
The Conservative government has pledged to extend this barrier by an additional 35 kilometers before the end of the year.
The Greek Interior Ministry said some 265,000 migrants were prevented from entering the country illegally last year.
Turkey and human rights groups accuse Greek law enforcement of routinely turning away asylum seekers at the border, which Athens denies despite numerous testimonies from alleged victims.
