Friday, June 10, 2016

Italy Arrests Two Ukrainians Suspected of Trafficking Syrians by Boat

 
Reuters, 10/06 11:26 CET

ROME (Reuters) – Italian police have arrested two Ukrainians suspected of trafficking Syrians to Italy on a sail boat, and have launched a probe to find the criminal organization ultimately responsible.

Almost 50,000 sea-borne migrants have landed this year in Italy, which is on the front line of Europe’s biggest migration crisis since World War Two.

Most are sub-Saharan Africans and many travel on boats so rickety they risk sinking before arriving and are picked up in Italian or Libyan waters and brought ashore by the coastguard.

But finance police said in a statement the suspected traffickers arrested on Thursday had managed to leave 16 people with wet clothes on a beach in Calabria, in the toe of Italy’s boot, and start making a getaway towards international waters.

Police chased and boarded the 10-metre (33 ft) single-mast vessel and arrested the two Ukrainians on board. The boat was confiscated and the pair were taken to jail after the migrants identified them.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: euronews.

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