Greek coast guard officers arrested a 24-year-old Iranian national off the island of Samos after a double sea chase, ide...

Greek coast guard officers arrested a 24-year-old Iranian national off the island of Samos after a double sea chase, identifying him as the smuggler responsible for ferrying 19 migrants across from Turkish waters. The incident began when a coast guard patrol vessel spotted a speedboat ignoring light and sound warning signals. The smuggler dropped the migrants on the southern shores of Cape Praso and then tried to flee back toward the Turkish coastline, triggering a second pursuit that ended when the speedboat ran aground on rocks near Murtia beach. Coast guard crew, assisted by a nearby fishing vessel, approached the grounded boat and immobilized the operator. Police from the Samos Police Directorate located all 19 migrants on land shortly after, including 17 men, one woman, and one minor, and transferred them to the Closed Controlled Facility on the island. The migrants told authorities they each paid 5,000 euros to a smuggling network to be transported to Greece. That puts the total take from this single crossing at roughly 95,000 euros. The Samos Port Authority, which is conducting the preliminary investigation, seized two mobile phones found on the suspect. The 24-year-old faces smuggling charges. The arrest comes as Greek authorities recorded more than 3,000 illegal arrivals in August alone, underscoring the sustained pressure on Aegean border crossing points heading into autumn. #Samos #Immigration #Greece