Cyprus Picks Up 19 Migrants Smuggled To Shore
Rukhshan Mir (@rukhshanmir) Published December 25, 2018 | 07:42 PM
Cypriot authorities on Tuesday picked up 19 migrants on the island's western tip who had been dropped off by suspect people smugglers, state-funded Cyprus News Agency reported.
It is believed the migrants arrived by boat in the Akamas region on Monday night before being spotted by police, CNA said.
The suspected traffickers got away on a speedboat despite Cypriot marine police pursuing and trying to intercept it, the agency reported.
The origin of the migrants, 14 men, two women and three children, was not immediately disclosed. They were taken to a reception centre in the capital Nicosia.
Over the past 12 months there has been a steady flow of Syrian migrants arriving in Cyprus from Turkey and Lebanon.
Cyprus has warned Brussels it faces growing pressure from increasing irregular migration.
EU data earlier this year showed it had received more asylum applications per capita than any of the bloc's other 28 nations.
Cyprus said it has received over 4,000 asylum requests in the first eight months of 2018 -- 55 percent more than in the same period last year.
But despite lying just 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the coast of war-torn Syria, Cyprus has notseen the massive inflow of migrants experienced by Turkey and Greece.
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