North Macedonia police find 80 migrants, arrest truck driver

Police in rth Macedonia said Sunday y have found 80 migrants during a routine check in central part of country and arrested a truck driver for suspected migrant smuggling.

Police said in a statement that 79 Pakistanis and an Eritrean were found Saturday in truck about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of capital, Skopje.

truck driver, a 20-year-old rth Macedonian national identified only by his initials A.F., was arrested as he tried to flee. He faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

migrants were transferred to migrant shelter in sourn border town of Gevgelija, pending deportation to Greece.

In two separate operations on Friday, police said y found a total of 55 migrants, including children, and arrested two men.

Greek border with rth Macedonia was closed earlier this year because of coronavirus pandemic. But trafficking networks remain active, ferrying migrants who make ir way from Turkey into Greece and n attempt to he rth, through Serbia, to more prosperous countries in European Union.

Police said that in July alone y h detained a total of 567 migrants attempting to illegally pass through rth Macedonia and h arrested nine people, including three Serbian nationals, suspected of migrant trafficking.