NICOSIA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A new group of 34 unregulated immigrants arrived in the northwestern coast of Cyprus early Sunday aboard a speed boat, while another group of 10 people crossed over the buffer zone at about the same time, authorities said.
Cyprus police said a speed boat was spotted several kilometers off the coast of Akamas peninsula, a protected European Union (EU) area, and was escorted by a patrol boat of the marine branch of the force into a port at Latsi tourist resort.
The refugees, all men between 20 and 40, said they had sailed from the south shores of Turkey, where they paid 2,500 U.S. dollars each to human traffickers to bring them to Cyprus.
Police said the new arrivals, who are believed to come from war-torn Syria, were processed at a local police station and later were transferred to refugee centers near the capital Nicosia.
Authorities also said that another group of 10 men were spotted early in the morning crossing the buffer zone into the government controlled areas of Cyprus from the Turkish-held part of the island.
The police said the 10 irregular immigrants also came from Syria and had travelled from Turkey by air to the Turkish controlled part of Cyprus.
The new arrivals will put new pressure on the Cypriot authorities, which have for months now said that they have reached their limits with regard to their capacity to host more immigrants in overcrowded refugee centers.
The Cypriot government has asked EU to work out a system of automatic dispersal of refugees arriving on the island, saying that immigrants make up four percent of the island's population, the highest concentration in any EU country.
The Ministry of Interior said the high concentration of refugees is leading to social, economic and security problems.
