A POLICE officer has been detained in Soke over alleged ‘migrant smuggling’.

The arrest was reported as a joint Gendarme and police crackdown across three districts – Kusadasi, Didim and Soke – was carried out last Friday.

A total of 62 refugees of various nationalities were arrested, while 11 suspects were detained in raids on houses and hotels across the Aydin Province.

Aydın Governor’s Office coordinated the gendarmerie and police operation.

The operation also yielded 259 life jackets, 27 empty backpacks, 3 unlicensed shotguns, 55 cartridges, six pistol bullets, 2 inflatable boats, one pair of binoculars, one Iraqi passport, 3.5 grams of cannabis, notes on migrant smuggling ops, 30 inflatable inner tubes and 8 Simcards.

Aydın Governor Erol Ayyıldız, in a written statement, said: “Migrant smuggling and illegal exits causes women and children’s deaths. This has to end.”

News emerging of the arrest of the police officer, aged 40, has only just broken. The officer was arrested on suspicion of allegedly smuggling migrants and helping them with the means to do it.