North Macedonia police find 94 migrants hidden in truck

Police in North Macedonia says they have found 94 migrants packed into a truck in the country's southeast. But trafficking networks remain active, ferrying migrants who make their way from Turkey into Greece and then attempt to head north toward more prosperous countries in the European Union.

Police in North Macedonia says they have found 94 migrants packed into a truck in the country's southeast. A police patrol stopped the truck with Macedonian national license plates late Saturday near the town of Radovish, 110 kilometers (68 miles) southeast of the capital, Skopje. The truck driver fled from the scene, police said Sunday.

Police found 94 migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan packed into the truck cargo area. The migrants were detained and will be transferred to a migrant shelter in the southern border town of Gevgelija, pending deportation to Greece, where they came from.

The Greek border with North Macedonia was closed earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. But trafficking networks remain active, ferrying migrants who make their way from Turkey into Greece and then attempt to head north toward more prosperous countries in the European Union.