Tunisia arrests 1,200 illegal immigrants over past 24 hours

When migrants begun a hunger strike with their mouths sewed shut during a protest to demand free transit through the country outside the office of the National Migration Institute (INM) in Tapachula, Mexico February 15, 2022. [Reuters]

During the past 24 hours, Tunisian security units arrested 1,200 of different nationalities who planned to cross illegally the Mediterranean to Europe, private radio station Mosaique FM reported on Monday.

"The arrest operations were carried out by National Guard units during a security campaign in the southeastern province of Sfax to stop the illegal immigration waves," Mosaique FM quoted Houcemeddine Jbabli, spokesman for the Tunisian National Guard, as saying.