by Jerry » Fri Dec 07, 2007 3:10 pm
From the Cyprus Mail:-
Half of travellers on ferry to north from Syria are missing
AROUND half of the passengers who travelled to the occupied north on a controversial ferry line from Syria are missing, believed to have stayed in Cyprus illegally, Turkish Cypriot media reported yesterday.
From the 697 people who travelled from Latakia to occupied Cyprus, 341 are missing, daily newspaper Bakis said, citing exclusive information from officials.
Only a small number of those have been caught trying to cross to the government-controlled areas, Bakis said.
The rest probably found their way south through illegal channels, the daily added.
Last month, Cyprus protested to Syria over illegal immigrants using the Turkish Cypriot ferry service from Latakia to occupied Famagusta.
Before that, police arrested 10 illegal immigrants, nine Iraqi Palestinians and one Jordanian in Larnaca.
The men had come on the ferry service several days earlier, police said.
The government has been trying for around two months to persuade Syria to put a stop to the service and said recently the assurances they had been given from Damascus that the ferry would be stopped.
Meanwhile Georgia struck off its ship registry the two ships carrying out the service because of the “violation of international treaties and contracts”, the Cypriot foreign ministry said yesterday.
The ferry service began in October but has not been doing well and recently cut back to one trip a week from two due to average passenger numbers of around 20 people per trip even though the vessel has the capacity for 297.
Well well, there's a surprise! It looks like this pathetic attempt at ending the so called "isolation" was in fact a cynical way of causing more problems for the ROC by facilitating illegal immigration to the island.
