The Turkish security forces have detained a total of 4,586 undocumented immigrants in their countrywide anti-human trafficking operations, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Monday.
Since the Turkish authorities carried out the “Shield-4” operations in 126 raids across 37 provinces, a total of 192 suspected migrant smuggling organizers were caught, Yerlikaya said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We will never give an opportunity to human smugglers who attempt to make our country a target and transit route for illegal immigration. We will catch them one by one and bring them to justice,” he said.
Currently hosting over four million refugees in its territories, with most of them coming from Syria, Türkiye remains one of the key transit countries for migrants seeking to reach Europe in search of better lives.
Türkiye and the European Union reached a deal in 2016 to curb illegal immigration to Europe. ■
