Fifty-three illegal immigrants trying to get to Spain or Italy were arrested Wednesday while in transit through north Lebanon, police said Thursday.
The Iraqi and Kurdish immigrants, including women and children, were caught in the Akkar region adjacent to Syria by state police backed-up by Syrian intelligence officials, the police added.
The immigrants, who had come through Syria, said they paid between four and five thousand dollars to Lebanese and Syrian operators to be smuggled to a Lebanese port and were then destined for either Spain or Italy.
They are to be charged with entering Lebanon illegally before being expelled.
On September 13, 275 mostly Iraqi Kurd and Syrian illegal immigrants were saved from a sinking trawler coming from Lebanon off the Cyprus coast. They were later sent back to Lebanon by the Cypriot authorities -- BEIRUT (AFP)
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