Greek Authorities Detain Bulgarian Human Trafficker in Thessaloniki

Syrian refugees disembark from a ferry at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, 01 September 2015. Photo: EPA

The police in the Greek city of Thessaloniki detained a Bulgarian citizen for illegal trafficking of immigrants with a truck carrying 103 people, 19 of whom children.

According to media reports, each of the refugees had paid EUR 2000 for being transported across the border.

Five more men have also been detained and all of them have been charged with human trafficking, the Bulgarian Nationa Radio (BNR) reports.

Four Bulgarians were detained on suspicions of trafficking the 71 migrants, who were found dead in an abandoned truck in Austria last week.

Meanwhile, the situation with the refugees at the Greek island of Lesbos is getting out of control as thousands of them closed the central port of Mytilene in a protest against the living conditions.

More than 6000 refugees are sleeping at the port, while their total number on the island surpasses 13 000.

Every day a special ship transfers 2500 refugees from Lesbos to Athens, but the same number of people arrive to the island on a daily basis.

According to the official information of the EU Frontex agency, 23 000 immigrants have arrived to the Greek islands in a week.

The situation is particularly complicated on the islands of Kos and Leros, where the immigrants surpass the number of people authorities can receive.

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