Turkey detains 1,300 refugees hours after EU pays it €3bn to help deal with European migration

Turkey currently houses around 2.2 million refugees from the Syrian civil war

Syrian refugees arrive on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on a inflatable dinghy on 11 September, 2015 (ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Authorities in Turkey have rounded up around 1,300 refugees allegedly preparing to make their way into Greece.

Some 750 people were detained in a pre-dawn sweep in the northwest town of Ayvacik, which is a main crossing point to the Greek island of Lesbos.

By the afternoon, authorities had detained 550 more people, some of whom were trying to hide in olive groves, state-run media reported.

The crackdown occurred just hours after the EU agreed to give Turkey €3 billion (£2 billion) in exchange for help holding back refugees trying to make their way to Europe.

Turkey currently houses around 2.2 million refugees from the Syrian civil war.

The agreement requires Turkey to crack down on people smugglers and cooperate with the EU on the return of people who do not qualify as refugees.

Four suspected smugglers were detained in the sweep, while four boats and six boat motors were seized.

State media said the refugees were from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iraq.

They were put into buses and taken to a small, overcrowded detention centre for foreigners awaiting deportation.