144 Bangladeshis found in truck in North Macedonia

Live Desk: Authorities in North Macedonia have found 211 migrants, including 144 Bangladeshis, packed into a truck near the country's southern border with Greece during a routine check on a regional road.

A border patrol stopped the truck about midnight on Monday near the town of Gevgelija, and found the migrants -- 67 from Pakistan - packed inside, police said on Tuesday.

The truck driver, a 27-year-old Macedonian national identified by police only by his initials EP, was arrested.The migrants, including 63 minors, were detained and transferred to a shelter transit centre in Gevgelija pending deportation back to Greece.

The Greek border with North Macedonia was closed earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But trafficking networks remain active in the area, ferrying migrants who make their way from Turkey into Greece and then head north towards more prosperous countries in the European Union's centre and north, reports Al Jazeera.

At least 5,200 migrant children from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa currently live in Greece, many of them in harsh conditions. Earlier on June 23, 64 Bangladeshi migrants were found in a truck on a highway near North Macedonia’s border with Greece.

Dhaka, 08 July (campuslive24.com)//Ait