Seyit Ahmet Aytaç
19 October 2018•Update: 19 October 2018
By S.Ahmet Aytac
ANKARA
At least 263 irregular migrants were held on Friday across Turkey, according to security sources.
In the northwestern Edirne province, security forces held 122 irregular migrants -- including women and children -- in a regular patrol in the city center.
In Baskale in the eastern Van province, gendarmerie forces held 57 irregular Afghan and Pakistani migrants, said a security source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Separately, 12 irregular migrants were held in Bodrum on Turkey's Aegean, in the western Mugla province.
Later, the police rounded up six irregular migrants -- all Palestinian nationals -- in Karadeniz Eregli, on the Black Sea coast, in Zonguldak.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Coast Guard and police held 66 irregular migrants -- including women and children -- in Cesme in the Aegean Izmir province.
All of the migrants were referred to provincial migration offices.
Six people were also arrested for suspected human trafficking in Zonguldak and Izmir.
Turkey has been a main route for irregular migrants trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
