Filenews 16 November 2020 - by Dora Christodoulou
Emergency conditions are now creating in Tellyria the reactivation of human trafficking networks from Turkey to the Republic of Cyprus. For the third time in the space of four days, migrants were transported by sea from the Turkish coast to the area of Tellyria.
These are 21 Syrians, 19 men and two women, who arrived on the coast of Pomou-Payammos an hour after midnight on a boat that started from a Turkish port. The migrants disembarked on the shore and were received by men from the state security services waiting for them, after the boat had been spotted on the Coast Guard's radar and its course was being monitored.
After the 21 were checked health care they were taken to a police station where their details were recorded and gave a statement on the conditions of their arrival in Cyprus. As in all previous cases, they said they had been waiting for days on the Turkish coast for Turkish traffickers to organise their transfer to Cyprus and paid $2000 each for the illegal trip.
The 21 Syrians will also be transferred to a reception area in Nicosia. However, the competent authorities have now raised the alarm, since it is obvious that an organised plan is under way by the Turks to create a fait accompli with the mass transfer of illegal immigrants to Cyprus. Already in the last four days three boatloads of Arabs have arrived in the area from the Turkish coast and there is now a certainty that this practice will not stop here.
The inhabitants of Tellyria are already particularly annoyed, who, in conditions of uncertainty created by the outbreak of the pandemic, are obliged to tolerate the visible risk of public health complications and the uncontrolled arrival of illegal immigrants in their area.
