Tunisian authorities announced that they had rescued 326 illegal immigrants who tried to illegally cross the country’s maritime borders.

“Coast Guard units prevented 16 attempts to cross the maritime border and rescued 326 illegal immigrants, including 217 representatives of various African nationalities,” said Tunisian coast guard spokesman Husam Eddine Jebali.

In this regard, the units of the National Guard, operating in the regions of Zarzis and Gabes in the southeast of Tunisia and Mahdia in the center of the east, announced last night “the arrest of 8 people involved in operations to deport illegal immigrants.” through illegal trips to the Italian coast.”

It should be noted that for many years there has been a large influx of illegal African immigrants on the coast of Tunisia, who want to get to the southern coasts of the countries of the European Union, where, according to statistics from the International Organization, illegal immigration recorded thousands of victims. for migration.

Last year, Tunisian authorities arrested 20,616 illegal migrants, including 10,371 foreigners, most of them from African countries.