UPDATES WITH NEW OPERATIONS ACROSS TURKEY; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, EDITS THROUGHOUT
By Necmettin Karaca, Huseyin Bagis and Hanife Erdinc
VAN/ISTANBUL/CANAKKALE, Turkey (AA) - At least 732 irregular migrants were held across Turkey on Wednesday, according to officials.
In a routine highway check, gendarmerie forces in the eastern Van province nabbed 86 irregular migrants, all Afghan nationals, travelling in two minibuses. All migrants were found to have entered Turkey illegally, a security source said.
Meanwhile, two suspects who had previously been arrested in separate operations were remanded into custody for organizing illegal border crossings.
Separately, 415 irregular immigrants -- with 129 of them from Afghanistan, 141 from Syria, and 32 from different countries -- were held by anti-migrant smuggling police teams in Istanbul after they entered Turkey illegally,
Also, 231 foreign nationals, including women and children, were held in an operation off the northwestern Canakkale province.
During inspections in the northern part of the Aegean Sea, Turkish Coast Guard teams stopped a boat west off the Greek island of Lesbos. The boat was determined to have set off from Canakkale.
Two suspects with Turkish nationality were also detained for alleged migrant smuggling.
All of the irregular migrants were taken to local migration centers.
Turkey has been a main route for irregular migrants trying to cross to Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
It hosts nearly 4 million refugees, including over 3.6 million Syrians -- more than any other country in the world.