In a co-ordinated European policing action, key figures of an alleged people-smuggling ring responsible for thousands of illegal migrant transfers have been arrested.
According to Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Co-operation, the criminals collected between €9,000 and €10,000 per illegal migrant.
In total, the network earned an estimated €30 million on shipping illegal migrants to Europe.
Police took action in Italy, Germany, Albania, Turkey and Oman on April 8.
Ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s border control masterplan appears to have yielded results, with illegal migration having fallen by 62 per cent in 2023. https://t.co/3dyJHfQoG6
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 29, 2024
An Egyptian ran the smuggling network, operating from Istanbul. He reportedly was sentenced to 10 years in his home country for similar crimes.
In an April 8 press release, the Italian police said that the action, Operation El Rais, followed a “complex investigative activity”.
In total, it resulted in 15 pre-trial detention orders being issued against individuals of Egyptian nationality, all believed to be members of an international criminal organisation.
They were suspected, for various reasons, of alleged involvement in a criminal conspiracy focused on migrant smuggling and facilitating illegal immigration, with aggravating circumstances due to their cross-border operations.
Their alleged smuggling ring has been under investigation since May 2022, after the arrest of three foreign boat skippers who had transferred people across the Mediterranean in Syracuse.
They had smuggled 87 illegal migrants of Afghan and Syrian nationality into Europe.
Based on this, Italian authorities uncovered a series of similar migrant transport operations across various regions, all allegedly co-ordinated by the same Egypt-based network.
The group was thought to have maintained cells in Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Italy, with individual members assigned specific roles.
These included recruiting skippers, liaising with irregular migrants via social media and messaging apps, managing financial transactions and arranging temporary accommodation along the smuggling routes.
This reportedly led to the identification and now arrest of 15 other Egyptians accused of being part of an alleged criminal association aimed at human trafficking and illegal immigration.
Francesco Curcio, leading Italian prosecutor, said authorities became aware of how the alleged criminals organised their smuggling operations and identified landings on the Greek coast in the same period.
He added: “In at least one instance, as confirmed by the seriousness of the evidence, the operation ended in tragedy with the sinking of the vessel.”
Illegal migrants from the Middle East and Africa, most of them said to be from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, were packed into sailing boats of around 14 metres long, designed to carry 20 to 25 people. These vessels, though , reportedly carries up to eight times more people crammed into them without any safety equipment, news outlet Siracusa News stated.
“In recent years, Egyptian nationals have increasingly been reported as both irregular migrants and smugglers operating on various routes into and throughout the EU, including the Mediterranean and the Western Balkan routes”, Europol said in its press release.
Each year, thousands of people trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea die in their efforts.
👉🏼 Almost half a million illegal EU border crossings in 2023
The annual report from the EU's border agency, Frontex, shows a 17 per cent increase in illegal border crossings compared to 2022.
Read more 👉🏼 https://t.co/tXu8IgodJC #immigrationupdate pic.twitter.com/x6zv554NdU
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 10, 2024
