Greek coastguard detains illegal immigrants

ATHENS, Apr 26 (Reuters) Greece's coastguard today found about 145, mainly Iraqi, illegal immigrants on board a small wooden boat drifting off the Athens coast and detained them along with three suspected traffickers, officials said.

The group of migrants, including 15 children and 13 women, was taken to the port of Lavrio and then to hospital for medical checks but all of them were found to be in a good condition.

''It seems the boat had left the western Turkish coast bound for Italy but engine problems left it drifting 12 miles of the island of Makronissos,'' a Merchant Marine Ministry official told Reuters.

Police said three people, suspected of smuggling the group into Greece, were being questioned.

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, mainly from Asia, attempt to cross from Turkey into EU-member Greece on their way to central or northern Europe.

REUTERS JS RK1805