ISTANBUL: Police in southeast Turkiye found 30 migrants hidden inside a tanker near the Iranian border, but declined to say where they were from.

Police video posted on X on Wednesday showed officers pulling several men out of a hatch on top of the tanker on a road in the eastern Bitlis province.

“A suspect involved in organising this trafficking has been arrested,” the post said, without giving further details but saying the 30 migrants would be deported.

Contacted by this news agency, the police refused to comment further.

Illegal migrants are regularly found hidden inside trucks in the province which lies some 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the Iranian border.

Turkiye began building a wall along the Iranian border in 2021 to stop migrants, mostly Afghans, from entering.

So far, it has built around 380 kilometres of concrete barrier and 553 kilometres of trenches with nearly 250 surveillance towers.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2026