Migrant trafficker admits ring connection, salary

A 37-year-old Syrian national, arrested for migrant trafficking Saturday, has admitted he is working for a trafficking ring and is being paid €1,500 per month for his work.

The Syrian is thought by authorities to be the organizer of the transport of 41 migrants who disembarked from a yacht Friday morning in eastern Attica.

Questioned by Coast Guard officers, the Syrian said the ringleader, who lives in Germany, comes to Greece about once a month and pays him. He claimed he has worked for the migrant trafficking ring for two years.

The suspect also implicated a compatriot of his who, he said, transported migrants from wherever they disembark to Athens. He named a specific location, a car wash business, as the point of arrival in Athens.

Authorities pursued the yacht after it disembarked the migrants with six vessels and two helicopters and caught up with it near the island of Kea Friday. Two traffickers were arrested. The yacht was flying the Sierra Leone flag.

were arrested.