Ahmad 
Tunisia’s coastguard has recovered six migrant bodies and seized 2,425 migrants over the past three days, security authorities said Monday.
Tunisian coast guard units have seized more than 2,400 migrants off the coast of Sfax and nearby coasts in the last 72 hours, in a remarkable development of waves of illegal immigration.
The figures point to a more difficult year for the flow of migrants across the central Mediterranean, after a 70% drop in January and February compared to the previous year.
According to data from the General Directorate of the National Guard, the coast guard recovered 6 bodies and seized 2,425 migrants, including only 20 Tunisians, while the rest hail from sub-Saharan African countries.
In their crackdown, security authorities arrested 108 middlemen and human smugglers and confiscated 44 boats intended for transporting migrants, 39 marine engines and quantities of fuel.
Ramadan Ben Amor, a member of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, noted that smuggling could increase in the coming months as climate factors improve and the tactics of people smugglers change.
Since last July, Tunisia signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission to curb the waves of migration emanating from its coasts, and the step was circulated with Mauritania and Egypt later.
Of the more than 150,000 migrants who arrived on the nearby Italian coast in 2023, about two-thirds set off from Tunisia, mostly from the coast of Sfax, home to thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants dreaming of reaching the bloc.
According to the forum’s data, more than 1,300 migrants died off the coast of Tunisia, more than half the number of deaths in the Mediterranean, which is classified as the most dangerous sea route for irregular migration in the world.
Voluntary return of Gambian migrants from Tunisia with international support