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Italian police break up migrant trafficking ring, arrest 19

  • Authorities bust criminal organisation that moved migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Italy
  • The ring operated out of the Italian cities of Bari, Milan and Turin, and offered migrants falsified residency and work permits

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Migrants and refugees who arrived from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos huddling for warmth. Photo: AFP
Associated Press

Italian police on Saturday arrested 19 suspects, dismantling what authorities say was a criminal organisation that moved migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan to Italy and then into northern Europe.

The investigation, led by prosecutors in Catania, Sicily, unveiled a network that involved hired or stolen sailing boats transporting migrants via Turkey and Greece to Italy. Some then travelled north to the French border and were smuggled by vehicle into France, thanks to human smugglers based in border towns, police said in a statement.

The arrested suspects included Iraqi Kurds, Afghans and Italians, police said.

One of the alleged ring’s bases was in Bari, southern Italy, where false documents were issued indicating the migrants had housing, a requirement for residency permits. Other bases were in Milan and Turin in northern Italy as well as in the town of Ventimiglia, near the French border.

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Others allegedly involved in the scheme falsified work contracts so the migrants could successfully apply for permission to live in Italy, authorities said.

The investigation began in 2018, triggered by the arrival of 10 boats near the eastern Sicilian city of Syracuse. The boats had sailed from Turkey and Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean, and not from Libya, from where for years most the hundreds of thousands of migrants had set out for Italy in traffickers’ unseaworthy vessels.

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The investigation ascertained the activities of a network of Italians and foreigners, most of the latter holding residency permits issued on grounds of international protection, the police said. The ring was “dedicated to facilitating the entrance, stay and transit toward northern Europe of migrants coming from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan”.

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