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MigrationItaly

Italy busts Mediterranean migrant trafficking ring

May 10, 2023

Italian police brought dozens of suspected human smugglers into custody, after a nearly four-year-long probe. The suspects helped migrants travel by sea to Italy, then faciliated their journey to northern Europe.

https://p.dw.com/p/4RABw
A ship with 700 migrants arrives in Sicily
Southern Italy is a common arrival point for migrants from Africa and the Middle EastImage: Orietta Scardino/ZUMA Press/IMAGO

Italian police on Wednesday arrested 29 people for their suspected involvement in a migrant trafficking ring. 

The arrests come after a nearly four-year-long investigation by prosecutors in the southern Italian province of Calabria. 

Authorities in Calabria unraveled a "criminal group (which) consisted of citizens from the Middle East, mainly of Kurdish-Iraqi origin." with operations based out of Greece, Italy and Turkey. 

Interpol and Europol assisted Italy with the investigation into the trafficking scheme, with Turkey, Greece, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, the UK and Morocco also helping out.

What do we know so far? 

The smugglers would bring the migrants across the Mediterranean from Turkey or Greece, traveling on vessels that would elude the detection of the authorities. The migrants would spend between €7000 to €15,000 (around $7,682 to $16,462) to pursue the seaward journey.  

Two migrant boats adrift in Mediterranean Sea

The migrants would then be brought across Italy by the smugglers, either by car, truck, train or taxi.    

"Once the migrants neared the Italian coasts, they contacted their associates in the Italian cells, who helped them travel to northern Italy for a fee of about €500 to €600," Italian police said.

Italian police official Francesco Messina said the migrants would often be provided food and lodging during their travel in Italy after paying the fee to the smugglers.  

From northern Italy, the migrants would travel to Italian transit cities such as Ventimiglia, which lies on the border with France, or Trieste, which is near Slovenia.

Migrants who could not afford the exorbitant sums demanded by smugglers could be left standed, Italian authorities said.   

Italy’s state of emergency – a pretext to deport migrants?

Tens of thousands arriving on Italian shores

Migrant arrivals to Italy have surged in Italy this year, with 45,000 people landing in the country so far in 2023, according to the Italian Interior Ministry. This figure is nearly four times the number in the same period in 2022. 

Italian far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who took office in October of last year, has vowed to crack down on migrant arrivals.

Meloni's government signed off on a new decree in March that would make human smuggling resulting in the death of migrants a crime that can be punished by up to 30 years in prison.   

wd/jcg (AFP, Reuters)