ROME Italian police intercepted more than 100 clandestine immigrants from Albania and Sri Lanka in separate clampdowns overnight in southern Italy, officials said Friday. Sixty-two Sri Lankan nationals were detained near Reggio Calabria after they were abandoned on the coast by smugglers, AFP quoted police as saying.

The immigrants, who were in good condition, were taken to a reception center at Crotone, they said, without giving further detail. In the southeastern Apulia region, 23 men, 10 women and seven children from Albania were detained shortly after disembarking on a beach near Lecce.