ROME - Italian police on Sunday detained nearly 200 clandestine migrants and three alleged people smugglers in operations in Sicily and the Adriatic port of Ancona, ANSA news agency reported.

Police intercepted 138 people as they came ashore near Syracuse on Sicily, as well as two Egyptians who had brought them from Libya. The migrants said they had paid up to 1,000 dollars (680 euros) to cross the Mediterranean.

Another group of 44 people, mainly from Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh, was found hidden behind a false wall in a truck that had arrived in Ancona from Greece, ANSA said.

The Turkish truck driver was arrested. Forty-two of the group were sent back to Greece while two, who appeared to be minors, were handed over to the city social services department.

Italy is one of the prime arrival points for would-be migrants seeking work and a better life in Europe. Some 6,760 illegal immigrants arrived in Italy in the first half of this year.