Italy: 25 detained in operation targeting migrant smuggling network

Rome: A reported 25 people have been arrested in southern Italy as part of the international operation ‘Medusa’ aimed at foiling a widespread criminal network smuggling migrants. An additional 43 people are being probed. The suspects arrested included citizens of Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey and Moldova.

A total of 25 foreign citizens suspected of organizing migrant crossings along the eastern Mediterranean route, from Turkey to the province of Reggio Calabria, have been arrested as part of the so-called ‘Medusa’ international operation.

The operation was coordinated by DDA anti-mafia investigators in Reggio Calabria and carried out by the central operational service and police flying squad of the Calabrian city.

An additional 43 people have been placed under investigation for a total of 68 individuals who are accused of being part of an international network, which allegedly included four groups that organized each phase of the crossing.

Overall, prosecutors in Reggio Calabria and police believe the network allegedly organized 30 crossings between 2017 and 2022, illegally taking a total of 2,000 migrants to Italy on overcrowded sailboats, for an estimated turnover of some 10 million euros, based on the analysis of hundreds of financial transactions on foreign accounts, according to investigative sources.

Thanks to the coordination of the national anti-mafia investigative directorate, Eurojust, Interpol, Europol, and the international law enforcement cooperation service, security officers identified the alleged smugglers and heads of the criminal organizations, including citizens of Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey and Moldova. Police also seized 3.3 million euros.

The chief prosecutor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Lombardo, said investigators have identified four connected criminal associations that were part of the network.

“The organization showed that it was capable of modifying its activities based on changed geopolitical conditions,” he said, calling the group “highly structured and complex”.

Each migrant paid between 5,000 and 12,000 euros per trip, Lombardo explained.

The magistrate went on to say that the investigation benefited from information provided by countries including Malta, Poland, Greece, Albania, Georgia, Montenegro, Turkey, Slovakia, Ukraine and Moldova.

Such institutional connections that benefited the investigation “cannot be compared to those we constantly have with countries” with which Italy has a stable international cooperation, he said. “Talks led to the institution of a common investigative team with Georgia, Ukraine and Greece and a stable cooperation in this sense.”

The chief prosecutor of Reggio Calabria also thanked political authorities: “Working on this subject matter means working in close contact with the ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs and Justice. Therefore thanks to Ministers (of Interior Matteo) Piantedosi, (of Foreign Affairs Antonio) Tajani and (of Justice Carlo) Nordio, from whom we had immediate answers because only with immediate answers we can obtain certain results and create the conditions for a certain type of jobcan be carried out with the necessary attention.”

The Prefect of Reggio Calabria, Clara Vaccaro, expressed “great appreciation for the brilliant operation conducted by the personnel of the State Police — central operational service and flying squad coordinated by Reggio’s DDA (anti-mafia and anti-terror directorate) — which allowed to foil an international network of migrant traffickers.”

Calabria Governor Roberto Occhiuto also thanked Reggio Calabria’s DDA and police officials for the “brilliant operation”, stressing that “this operation confirms the danger of the eastern Mediterranean route and its international articulations.”

The governor said that, after the February 2023 shipwreck off Cutro, on Calabria’s coast, in which at least 94 migrants lost their lives, “Calabria has repeatedly warned against the growing risks of trafficking, too often underestimated.”

“I am certain that the work of magistrates and police will help the State boost the fight against these criminal networks that make money out of the desperation of those fleeing wars, persecutions and poverty”, he concluded.