Greece transferring 450 migrants to facility near Athens

ATHENS, Greece — Greece is transferring 450 migrants at this time detained for attempting to attain the island of Lesbos illegally to a facility shut to Athens, authorities mentioned Sunday.

A ship with the migrants landed at a port shut to Athens and the migrants could be transferred to a facility right north of the capital pending deportation, an respectable on the Ministry of Migration policy if truth be told useful The Connected Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to focus on on the topic. The transfer to the ability turned into as soon as peaceful underway Sunday morning.

The entire migrants dangle been detained since March 1, right days after Turkey mentioned it turned into as soon as opening its borders to the hundreds and hundreds of migrants on its soil. In response,Greecehas toughened its stance, suspending all asylum applications for a month and jailing migrants, andrefugees, who tried to inferior the land border from Turkey.

Although the migrants had been taken to the ship several days in the past, the entire operation had been shrouded in secrecy, with officials refusing to comment on the ship’s destination even after it left Lesbos early Saturday afternoon.

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Costas Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki,Greece.