Tunis, Sep 27 (IANS): The Tunisian National Guard has said that it has arrested 16 organisers of several migrant smuggling networks over the past 48 hours.
The arrest operations were carried out in the southeastern province of Sfax and central Tunisia to crack down on illegal immigration, the Tunisian National Guard said on Tuesday in a statement on its Facebook account.
It added that 90 other wanted persons, 19 boats, and a "significant" sum of money of different currencies were also seized in the operations, Xinhua news agency reported.
Located in the central Mediterranean, Tunisia is one of the most popular transit points for illegal immigration to Europe.
Although Tunisian authorities have adopted rigorous measures to tackle the problem, the number of illegal immigrants heading to Italy has been on the rise.