Some 340 irregular migrants were intercepted in northwestern Turkey's Edirne province, media reports said Friday.

Provincial Gendarmerie Forces and Border Units from the 54th Mechanized Infantry Brigade Command caught the irregular migrants in inspections carried out in the villages of Ipsala, Lalapaşa, Meriç, and Bosnaköy.

The migrants were identified as Algerian, Moroccan, Syrian, Iraqi, Indian and Nepalese nationals.

Turkey has been the main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war began. Some 265,000 illegal migrants were held in Turkey in 2018, according to the Interior Ministry. The illegal migrants were mostly Afghan, Pakistani, Syrian and Iraqi nationals.