Tunisia foils 8 illegal migration attempts, detains 231 people

Tunisia announced Tuesday its National Guards forces curbed eight illegal migration attempts and arrested 213 people from different regions of the country, Anadolu news agency reports.
“As part of the fight against the phenomenon of illegal migration, during the night of Monday to Tuesday, maritime units of the National Guard have managed to thwart 8 attempts to cross the maritime borders and rescue 231 migrants in the Sahel (east), central and southern,” said colonel Houssem Eddine Jebabli head of the National Guards.
“Of these, 163 are from sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest are Tunisians”, he added.
The North African country has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of illegal migration attempts to Europe, mainly to Italy’s shores, owing to impacts of international economic crisis, military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine and the political crisis that has gripped the country since July 25 last year.
At least 544 people have reportedly lost their lives during the crossing of the Mediterranean according to Forum Tunisien pour les droits économiques et sociaux; a non-governmental organization.