Aksu: We Captured 470 Thousand Illegal Immigrants In Last Five Years

ABANT - Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu has said, ''our security forces captured 470 thousand illegal immigrants in the last five years as they were trying to proceed to European countries via Turkey.''
Replying to questions of journalists, Aksu said on Sunday, ''our security forces captured 470 thousand illegal immigrants from 63 different countries in the last five years as they were trying to proceed to European countries via Turkey. Also, 4 thousand human smugglers were captured. Human smugglers often co-operate with terrorist organizations.''
Noting that illicit drug trafficking happened among the most important sources that finance terrorist organizations, Aksu added, ''following the September 11th attacks, the United States have exerted great efforts to improve co-operation in fight against terrorism. Turkey has signed agreements with 48 countries to co-operate in fight against illicit drug trafficking and terrorism.''
(UK-MS) 06.06.2004