Three arrested for migrant smuggling in as many incidents

A 16-year-old teenager was arrested on Monday on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos on charges of people smuggling after a spate of incidents on Monday.

Port authorities said the suspect, a foreign national, was the skipper of a dinghy with an outboard motor carrying 41 migrants from Turkey to Greece. The boat was intercepted in the sea area of Agrielias off the island’s coast.

Port authorities intercepted another dinghy with 32 migrants in the sea area off Myrsini and arrested the 36-year-old skipper, a foreign national, while a similar vessel was found with 26 migrants off the coast close to the island’s airport. The 28-year-old skipper, also a foreign national, was arrested.

In all three cases the migrants were transferred to the port of Mytilene.