30 people arrested as human smugglers

FOSSALTA DI PIAVE, Italy — Police in Italy, Albania and Greece on Wednesday arrested some 30 people accused of profiteering millions to smuggle refugees and migrants into the European Union from Turkey on yachts and other leisure vessels.

The coordinated action is believed to have dealt a blow to the Turkey-Europe sailboat crossings, for which people pay between $6,000 to $10,000 to reach southern Italy, with an eye on northern European destinations.

The smugglers use mostly sailboats and yachts, but also fishing boats and less seaworthy craft, packing between 30 to 180 people on board, said Lt. Col. Giuseppe Giulio Leo, head of Italy’s financial police in the southern city of Lecce.

The arrested suspects are believed to be part of a wider ring with as many as 80 members that organized at least 30 smuggling operations that transported at least 1,100 people by boat from Turkey to the coast of Puglia, and then on to other European countries, EU law enforcement agency Europol said.

Eleven people were arrested in Italy, Leo said. Another 18 were arrested in Albania, and one was arrested in Greece, Europol said.

The masterminds of the operations are believed to be in Turkey, and the Lecce prosecutors have activated diplomatic channels in a bid to extend the operation, “with the hope of apprehending the presumed criminals located there,” Leo said.