UPDATE 3 - Over 240 undocumented migrants held in Turkey

UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES

By Ozgun Tiran, Hakan Mehmet Sahin, Cuneyt Celik and Burak Akay

KIRKLARELI/EDIRNE/CANAKKALE/KARS, Turkey (AA) - A total of 246 undocumented migrants have been held in Turkey, according to security officials on Wednesday.

Forty-two migrants, including Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians and Pakistanis, who were attempting to illegally cross into Europe, were rounded up in two districts of the northwestern province of Kirklareli neighboring Bulgaria, said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The migrants were later referred to provincial migration authorities along with two others, who were allegedly organizers of the illegal border crossing bid.

Separately, some 129 undocumented migrants, including Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Palestinians and Syrians, were held during a police raid in the districts of Orhankoy, Bosnakoy and Ipsala in the northwestern province of Edirne, neighboring Kirklareli, Greece and Bulgaria.

In the northwestern Canakkale province, another 39 foreign nationals, including women and children, and three persons, who were allegedly organizing the illegal border crossing attempt, were held.

The group was trying to reach Europe through illegal means, another security official said.

In a separate operation in the northeastern Kars province, another 36 undocumented migrants, who illegally crossed into Turkey, and 14 alleged organizers of the crossing were rounded up.

In the last 10 years, Edirne has seen a rise in migrants from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Morocco, Iran and Iraq. In 2017 alone, 50,000 migrants and refugees from 50 different countries have been held by Turkish security units.

There has been a 60 percent increase in migrant flow since 2016; the number was 31,000 in 2016.