Tunisia thwarts 10 irregular migration operations, rescues 156 people

Tunisia thwarted ten irregular immigration attempts across the country and rescued 156 people, the Tunisian National Guard announced on Monday.

In a statement the spokesperson of the Directorate General of the Tunisian National Guard, Housam Eddin Al-Jabali, said “units belonging to the maritime branches of the Naval Guard in the north, centre and south managed to thwart 10 surreptitious crossings of the maritime borders.”

He added that the units managed to “save and rescue 156 immigrants, including 102 who hold African nationalities and the rest are Tunisians.”

Al-Jabali explained that the operation was carried out on the night of Sunday, and came “within the framework of fighting the phenomenon of irregular immigration.”

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“After consulting the Public Prosecution, I authorised taking the necessary measures against them,” Al-Jabali said.

In 2021, the Tunisian Ministry of Interior arrested 20,616 irregular immigrants, including 10,371 foreigners, most of them from sub-Saharan African countries, according to official data.