ISTANBUL

A total of 135 irregular migrants were held in Turkey’s largest metropolis Istanbul, said security sources.

This came as police conducted an operation as part of security efforts against irregular migration and human smuggling, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The migrants -- nationals of Bangladesh and Pakistan -- were held in the Fatih district of Istanbul.

They were later transferred to provincial migration offices for legal processing.

In 2019, Turkish authorities held a record of 454,662 irregular migrants across the country, with about 60,000 caught while traversing the Mediterranean Sea.

As many as 268,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018, 175,000 each in 2017 and 2016, and 146,000 in 2015.

About 28,000 human traffickers have also been rounded up by authorities over the past five years.