Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS)) says it’s uncovered a criminal group operating in Armenia that was ferrying migrants through Armenia to Iran, and then on to Turkey.

The NSS, in a statement released today, says that between January and June 2017, five illegal border crossings were uncovered at Meghri, an Armenian town on the border with Iran.

The NSS says that Armenian taxi drivers would take the people to a designated spot along the Armenian-Iranian border where a member of the gang would then cut the barbwire and sneak the individuals into Iran. The migrants would then be ferried into Turkey.

The NSS says that in December of 2017 it got word that groups of migrants (citizens of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Yemen), that had been expelled from Turkey but who wanted to return, were on their way to Armenia.

The NSS says that it prevented illegal border crossings along the Armenian-Iranian border on December 22 and 26, 2017, and on January 15 and 19, 2018.

 The NSS says it’s captured the Iranian member of the group responsible for meeting the migrants at a prearranged spot along the Armenian border with Iran. (See top photo).

Video by NSS

Seven individuals have been implicated in the criminal case and four are being held in pre-trial detention.