224 undocumented migrants held across Turkey

ANKARA

A total of 224 undocumented migrants were held across Turkey on Saturday, according to security sources.

In eastern Kars province, 50 Afghan nationals were detained when they tried to escape from a minibus they were traveling in after spotting a police control point, said the sources who refused to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Police also arrested the minibus driver, the sources added.

Separately, gendarmerie forces held 48 Afghan nationals, who were left in a village in Kars by human smugglers, the sources added.

In western Izmir province, coast guards rounded up 37 foreign nationals who were traveling in a boat off Seferihisar district's coast, the sources said.

Most of the migrants are Syrian nationals, they added.

In Izmir's Urla district, gendarmerie forces stopped a suspicious minibus and car, sources said.

They held 57 undocumented migrants of Syrian, Eritrean, Somali and Iraqi nationalities from the minibus.

However, four alleged human smugglers escaped to a nearby forest. The forces chased and caught two of them, while a search for the others is ongoing, the sources added.

Also, 32 undocumented migrants in a boat were detained off the coast of Ayvacik district in western Canakkale province by coast guards, the sources said.

The sources added that the migrants are Afghan, Iranian, Senegali and Sudanese nationals and they were trying to go to the Greek Lesvos island.

Turkey has been a main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.