Three migrant-smugglers from Bulgaria were arrested and 14 illegal migrants were detained by Sapes border police on Monday on the Mesti-Komotini stretch of Egnatia Highway.

The three migrant smugglers were arrested after the illegal migrants were found in the two vehicles they were driving.

Police initially stopped one car, driven by a 45-year-old Bulgarian, which was carrying the illegal migrants, and subsequently stopped a second car that was acting as a look-out, with a 38-year-old and a 50-year-old Bulgarian on board.

Twelve of the illegal migrants were from Iraq, and the other two from Somalia.

Earlier, in a separate incident, Alexandroupolis police arrested another 29-year-old Bulgarian migrant-smuggler after a chase, and detained one illegal migrant in the car while four others fled and were wanted.

The arrest was made after the Bulgarian driver rammed into the protective side bars on Egnatia Highway during the chase.

In a third incident on Egnatia Highway outside Alexandroupolis, a 45-year-old Bulgarian migrant-smuggler was arrested after four illegal migrants were found in his car during a spot check.

The four vehicles used in the three incidents were confiscated, while the 7 migrant-smugglers and 19 illegal migrants will appear before prosecutors in Komotini and Alexandroupolis.