The Greek Coast Guard announced on Wednesday (July 29), that a total of 234 people were picked up from small boats off the island of Crete in the past 24 hours after crossing the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa.

The migrants were found on five different boats off the island of Gavdos, south of Crete, as well as off the city of Lerapetra in Crete and off the village and port of Kali Limenes early Wednesday and late Tuesday, local news outlet eKathimerini reported, citing Greek authorities. Over 130 individuals were rescued in the same area early on Tuesday, eKathimerini added.

A press statement on the Hellenic Coast Guard, released on July 30, added that as part of the above arrivals, Greek authorities had detected one boat with 38 migrants on board. A 28-year-old national from South Sudan was arrested by the authorities on suspicion of having piloted the boat from the Tobruk area of Libya. After talking to those on board, the Hellenic Coast Guard said the migrants told them they had paid around 14,000 Libyan dinars (around 1,900 euros) per person to make the journey.

On another boat, carrying 97 migrants that was spotted off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard said it had arrested two Sudanese nationals, one just 19 years old and one 23-year-old, also on suspicion of having "facilitated the illegal entry of foreigners into Greece." The two suspects, said the Greek Coast Guard, were identified by other passengers on the boat, and were said to have taken a "monetary reward" for having done so.

In past cases however, often those who are arrested for piloting boats, tend to be among the poorest on board, who perhaps were only able to 'afford' the passage if they agreed to pilot the boat, sometimes, but not always, because they might have had prior experience of sea faring. Others say they are forced at gunpoint to do so, or take over mid-crossing to try and save the lives of themselves and everyone else on board. Studies and reports on similar court cases, often end up admitting that the really powerful smugglers rarely go near the boats that operate on the various routes.

Overall Greece migrant sea arrivals goes down, Crete arrivals go up

Despite arrival numbers to the island of Crete, the country of Greece has seen an overall decrease in irregular sea crossings to the country's Aegean islands, with a 27 percent decline in migrant arrivals during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year.

For more than a year, arrivals from Turkey's western coast have steadily dropped while migrant smuggling networks have increasingly shifted their operations toward the island of Crete. Crete has seen an increased number of arrivals of people who have departed on boats from Tobruk in eastern Libya, a region still under the control of Khalifa Haftar's military forces. An administration that rivals the UN-backed authorities in western Libya.

According to official data, arrivals and interceptions off Crete increased by more than 20 percent to around 5,500 through May compared with the same period in 2025, with the pace of arrivals increasing since early June, when weather and sea conditions are milder.

Libya remains one of the main transit hubs for migrants from Africa and Asia trying to reach Europe irregularly. More than a decade of political instability has enabled people smuggling networks to expand, moving migrants through Libya's borders with Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia before launching Mediterranean crossings.

With AFP and AP