Two arrested after Syrian refugees reach shore

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling after over a dozen presumptive refugees from Syria reached Cypriot shores late Tuesday night, while there was still concern over overcrowding concerns at a migrant camp outside the capital.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, a speedboat carrying undocumented migrants reached the shore in Tylliria region late Tuesday night, just before midnight, with 13 people crossing from Limnitis through the buffer zone into Kato Pyrgos.

CNA reported that the Syrian migrants included 6 men, 3 women, 3 children, and a young infant, who were registered with authorities and were expected to be taken to a migrant facility.

According to CNA, police said they arrested two other men in the boat who attempted to flee the area but were intersected by a Coast Guard vessel of the Republic.

Police did not provide details about the suspects but sources told Knews the two men were suspected of people smuggling.

Knews could not ascertain where the presumptive refugees were being taken, while previous reports said a migrant camp in rural Nicosia was operating way over capacity.

Earlier this month, reports said the Cabinet had authorized the Interior Ministry to rent an apartment complex to meet housing needs for refugees, but no information was provided as to whether any asylum seekers were staying at the new location.

Reports also said the interior ministry was dealing with conditions of overcrowding at Pournara camp in Kokkinotrimithia, rural Nicosia, while critics slammed government policies by which processed and unprocessed asylum seekers were being placed there and detained throughout their application process.

Last week, a handful of newly-arrived asylum seekers were seen roughing it outside a police station in Famagusta district while weeks earlier dozens of others were staying outside a migration office in Engomi. Reports said some 60 refugees in the western borough of Nicosia had not been allowed to file for asylum at the Migration office and had nowhere to go.