ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two gunmen overpowered police and stole a truck carrying dozens of illegal immigrants that was headed for a holding facility, police said Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off, authorities had set up a roadblock on the highway between Athens and the town of Corinth late Monday night and stopped the truck, in which they found 65 illegal immigrants hiding.
The driver escaped as soon as the truck was stopped. Police were driving the vehicle to Athens — with the immigrants still inside — when they were stopped at a traffic light by two gunmen in a car, a police statement said.
The gunmen overpowered police, stole their guns and took over the truck, with one driving it away and the other following in the car.
Police eventually caught both gunmen — one on Monday night and the second early Tuesday afternoon — and recovered the stolen weapons. They located the empty truck in the greater Athens area, but the migrants who had been hiding inside were gone.
Both gunmen, who were being questioned, were described as being of Iraqi origin. Early Tuesday, police also arrested an Indian national suspected of involvement in the migrant smuggling ring.
Thousands of migrants from Asia and Africa enter Greece illegally every year, seeking a better life and access to other European Union countries. EU officials say the vast majority — some 90 percent — of all illegal immigrants stopped trying to enter the 27-member union are caught at Greece's borders.
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