(Reuters) Italian police said on Tuesday they had dismantled a migrant smuggling network, leading to the arrests in several countries of 15 Egyptians involved in using sailboats for dangerous illegal sea crossings from Turkey to Greece and Italy.
According to an Italian police statement, the network facilitated the illegal entry into Italy of at least 3,000 migrants since 2021, earning more than $30 million by charging them $10,000 each.
The Italian police said the arrests were made simultaneously in multiple countries with the cooperation of Albanian, German, Turkish and Omani police, coordinated by Italian anti-mafia prosecutors in Sicily and relying on Interpol and Europol.
