Turkish human trafficker arrested by Greek coastguard

The Greek coastguard arrested a Turkish man on the island of Samos who smuggled 71 refugees and immigrants into Greece over the past two days. Authorities say the prolonged stay of thousands of refugees and illegal immigrants on the Greek islands has given rise to the creation and operation of an illegal ring for the provision of fake identity papers, which offers immigrants and refugees then chance to travel to Athens and then to the rest of Europe. A 44-year-old Syrian man was also detained carrying a large number of asylum application papers. He was arrested at Mytilene, where authorities found 10 international asylum seekers’ forms and copies. The North Aegean Police say 9,209 refugees and illegal immigrants have submitted asylum applications.