Smuggling

Turkish security forces have made notable progress in reducing illegal crossings, smuggling and terrorist infiltration along the country's 295-kilometer border with Iran, with the construction of a protective wall in Van province now 70 percent complete.

Police at Athens Airport have arrested a 64-year-old woman wanted in Vietnam on suspicion of smuggling gold bars.

Vietnamese authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for her via Interpol.

The woman was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Financial Times recently put the spotlight on a phenomenon that has been dubbed the "north Cyprus trap" that has seen tens of thousands of migrant students get lured with false promises to so-called universities in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus.

A Panamanian-flagged cargo ship brought 81 men, women and children safely to shore in Kalamata in the southwestern Peloponnese on Sunday, after the smuggling boat they were sailing in ran into trouble off the coast of Pylos, state broadcaster ERT reported on Tuesday.

Greek authorities processed the passengers of the vessel and have arrested four on charges of migrant smuggling. 

A Bulgarian national and four Albanians were convicted in an English court for drug trafficking worth 200 million British pounds. The gang, comprising one Bulgarian man and four Albanians, was found guilty of smuggling cocaine from Latin America into the UK, according to reports from the BBC.

The Daily Mail reports on a joint operation conducted by British and Bulgarian authorities aimed at combating human trafficking across the English Channel. This collaboration resulted in the seizure of 125 inflatable boats, 128 engines, over 700 pumps, and 300 rubber rings, totaling 33 seizures of goods.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has approved the resignation request of lawmaker Ediz Ün following the discovery of smuggled electronic cigarette devices in his vehicle.

"Mr. Ün will return to our party depending on the outcome of the judicial process," said a written statement issued by the CHP on Sept. 28.

A broad search and rescue operation by the Greek Coast Guard continued for a second day on Tuesday off the eastern Aegean island of Samos, to locate a person who remained unaccounted for after a boat smuggling migrants capsized on Monday.

 A drug trafficking gang operating in Mykonos was recently dismantled by the National Police. The group, specializing in cocaine and cannabis distribution, catered to a closed circle of clients on the island. A 46-year-old man, identified as the ringleader, along with a man and a woman as accomplices, were all arrested.

Bulgarian authorities detected over 700 migrants smuggled by this criminal network