Turkish police seize fake life jackets sold to migrants making sea journeys
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish police said they had confiscated more than 1,000 fake life jackets made for migrants crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece, in a raid in the port city of Izmir.
They said the seized life jackets were stuffed with packaging rather than buoyancy aids, the BBC and Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported.
Two young Syrian girls were among the four workers at a workshop making the fake life jackets, according to the reports.
The raid came a day after the bodies of 34 migrants were found along Turkey's coast, many wearing life jackets and including several children among the dead.
More than one million migrants are reported to have crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, most going from Turkey to Greece.
The fake flotation devices sell for about $15 and provide no buoyancy, compared to proper jackets that cost about 10 times more. Migrants buy the jackets to survive the hazardous sea journeys.
The UN says that 3,771 people making the sea journeys were listed as dead or missing in 2015.
Authorities seized 1,263 life jackets that failed to correspond to safety standards in Wednesday’s raid in Izmir, a major hub for refugees, Turkey's Dogan news agency said.
They said the seized life jackets were stuffed with packaging rather than buoyancy aids, the BBC and Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported.
Two young Syrian girls were among the four workers at a workshop making the fake life jackets, according to the reports.
The raid came a day after the bodies of 34 migrants were found along Turkey's coast, many wearing life jackets and including several children among the dead.
More than one million migrants are reported to have crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, most going from Turkey to Greece.
The fake flotation devices sell for about $15 and provide no buoyancy, compared to proper jackets that cost about 10 times more. Migrants buy the jackets to survive the hazardous sea journeys.
The UN says that 3,771 people making the sea journeys were listed as dead or missing in 2015.
Authorities seized 1,263 life jackets that failed to correspond to safety standards in Wednesday’s raid in Izmir, a major hub for refugees, Turkey's Dogan news agency said.