According to a front-page article appearing in the Sunday edition of "Kathimerini", which quotes the Frontex report, roughly 31,000 illegal immigrants, mostly Afghans and Algerians, were detected between January and September 2010 attempting to enter Greece from Turkey.
The number of illegal migrants, practically all from Third World countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, could be much larger, the Frontex report is quoted as stating.
The report cites one of the greatest influxes of illegal immigrants in the Union's history, in part basing this assessment on the sea patrols Frontex began in the eastern Aegean, which supposedly forced migrant smugglers to use the land route.
Just as importantly, Turkey's role as a transit country for illegal migrants is underlined, while noting that the massive scope of the problem makes it impossible for Greek authorities to deal with it alone.
On the news front, another body was discovered on Sunday in a field some four kilometres southeast of a guard tower on the Evros River, in the Peplos district of Evros prefecture.
According to initial reports, the body is of an African man aged 20 to 25. The cause of death was listed as exposure.
Finally, on Saturday a mixed Greek and Frontex patrol intercepted a group of four illegal immigrants that had just rowed across the Evros River from Turkish territory aboard an inflatable dinghy.
One of two alleged migrant smugglers was also arrested. The other fled back into Turkish territory.
(ANA-MPA)
