Greek police have detained 97 illegal immigrants caught trying to sneak into the country via Turkey with two Bulgarian suspected people-smugglers.
The group - 70 Iraqis, 22 Pakistanis, four Bangladeshis, and one Palestinian - crossed into Greece last night on a small boat sailing across the Evros river, which marks Greece's northeastern border with Turkey, police said.
Police said they arrested Bulgarians Mr Ivan Petro (44) and Mr Ivan Vousov (54) during a road check between the border towns of Soufli and Alexandroupolos as they were attempting to drive the immigrants to Athens aboard a truck.
The two men would appear before Alexandroupolis's public prosecutor, and the immigrants would be sent back to Turkey, police said.
Athens has criticised Ankara for failing to stop illegal immigration across their shared land border amid regular detentions of immigrants seeking to sneak across Greece into other Western Europe countries.
AFP