Police on trail of international migrant-trafficking ring
The 54 migrants from Syria, Somalia, Iraq and Iran were loaded onto a truck in Aspropyrgos, Attica on Good Friday and taken to the location Ichthyka, Aitolikos where the two Greeks and the 53-year-old Turk were waiting for them, in order to hide them until the boat from Italy arrived.
The two Italians sailed to the area from the sea, where they were spotted by Messolonghi coast guard officers and arrested. The coast guard alerted the police, who launched a search on the mainland and found the migrants and the three men arrested on Saturday morning.
Authorities are now seeking the driver of the truck that transported them from Aspropyrgos and will also investigate the phone records of nine mobile phones found on the suspects. They are also examining the migrants for further information concerning the ring's activities.
Based on information collected so far, the migrants were approached in various locations in Attica and each asked to pay 2,500 euros for passage to Italy. For the time being, the migrants are being held in the police headquarters at Messolonghi.