Italian police carried out an operation on Wednesday (May 10) to dismantle an organization that allegedly smuggled migrants across the Mediterranean from Greece and Turkey to Italy and then often onward to other northern and central European countries.

The investigation that triggered the raids was coordinated by DDA (district anti-mafia directorate) investigators in the southern Italian city of Catanzaro.

The operation involved police from several cities across Italy — namely Brindisi, Foggia, Grosseto, Imperia, Lecce, Milan, Turin and Trieste — as well as Europol and Interpol.

Police from several other countries — namely Turkey, Greece, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Britain and Morocco — were involved in the investigation, according to a report by news agency AP, citing police.

Arrest warrants for 29 suspects

Arrest warrants were issued against 29 people who are “strongly suspected of belonging to a transnational association that aided and abetted illegal immigration and laundered money coming from the illicit activity,” Italian police said in a statement.

The network is believed to have cells “in Italy and abroad”, in Turkey and Greece, and their members worked to bring undocumented migrants to Italy “through the maritime route of the eastern Mediterranean, using sailboats that departed from Turkey and Greece”, according to investigators. The group reportedly also then smuggled people from Italy to other central and northern European countries.

Prefect Francesco Messina, who leads the Anticrime Center of Italian police (Polizia di Stato), said that the investigation had lasted nearly four years. He said that investigators had “dismantled a criminal group that was able to guarantee [the arrival of] thousands of migrants [in Italy through] the so-called maritime Balkan route.”

According to police, most of the alleged ringleaders of the group were from the Middle East, primarily Kurdish Iraqis. Many of the skippers operating the sailboats were from eastern Europe and from the former Soviet Union area, according to reports from various news agencies citing officials. However, there were conflicting accounts as to whether they were primarily Russian or Ukrainian.

Migrants paid up to €15,000 for trip

Migrants were required to pay between €7,000 and €15,000, with the standard rate being around €10,000, to reach their destination, according to Italian officials and police.

Migrants reportedly paid for their journeys in stages, and those unable to pay along the way were left stranded or told to contact relatives back home to get the funds needed, news agency AFP cited police as saying.

After arriving on the shores of southern Italy, migrants were taken northward, through Milan or Turin to Trieste or Ventimiglia, from where they crossed the northern Italian border in lorries, trains or taxis, depending on how much they paid, according to AFP. The migrants reportedly paid up to €600 for the journey across Italy alone.

Groundbreaking investigation into migrant smuggling

Catanzaro Chief Prosecutor Nicola Gratteri described the investigation as groundbreaking in terms of understanding how smuggling cells work together, from point of origin to point of destination for the migrants, according to news agency AP. “For the first time we succeeded in demonstrating all the passages, all the steps, of the migrant, depending on the passenger’s origin and desired destination,” Gratteri told reporters. “For example, departing from Syria and going to Oslo [Norway], or wherever they wanted to go.”

Italy has seen a stark increase in the number of migrants and refugees arriving via the Central Mediterranean in recent months. More than 45,000 people have arrived on Italian shores so far this year — at the same point in 2022, the number was just over 12,000.

However, this is largely due to an increase in departures from Libya and Tunisia, while arrivals from Turkey and Greece seem to have fallen recently. At least 987 people landed on Italian shores via Turkey between January 1 and May 7 of this year, reported UN refugee agency UNHCR. The number was 2,290 for January 1 to May 8 of last year.

With ANSA, AFP, AP, Reuters