Italian security sources revealed the arrest of a Tunisian criminal in the Sicilian city of Marsala, who crossed the Mediterranean with a group of migrants from Libya.
The same sources told the Italian news agency, AKI, that “the Tunisian man was wanted on charges of facilitating irregular migration since 9 January 2019”.
The Trapani Police Directorate and the Special Operations Unit (ROS) of the Gendarmerie (Carabinieri), with the assistance of the Ports Protection Authority, tracked down and arrested him on a boat carrying 20 migrants, about to sink off the coast of Marsala.
The security sources stated that “the man, a 33-year-old Tunisian, belongs to a Tunisian criminal organization specialized in facilitating clandestine migration from the African coasts to the Sicilian coasts in the Mediterranean.”
AKI reported that the security operation (Abyad) made it possible to identify the 15 members of the criminal organization. They are believed to organise the crossing of small groups of Tunisian citizens, some of whom are burdened with judicial procedures, from the coasts of Tunisia to Trapani for large sums of money.
According to AKI, the security sources added that “the gang also provides logistical support to migrants who arrive in Italy, and invests the proceeds of its business in purchasing real estate and boats for transit operations.”
It concluded by saying that, “the wanted Tunisian man is now detained in the Pietro Chirolli prison in Trapani.”
On Saturday, an Italian offshore supply vessel rescued 65 migrants, attempting to cross from Libya to Europe on a crowded, wooden boat. The rescued migrants included women and children.
After its engine stopped operating, the migrant boat was found by Seabird, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), tracking aircrafts flying across the central Mediterranean. The migrants were not wearing life jackets and were finally rescued by the Asso Ventinove supply vessel, near the Bouri oilfield following a request to do so from Seabird.
Shortly thereafter a Libyan Coast Guard vessel arrived at the scene to check the empty boat. It is common for Libyan authorities to retrieve engines following rescues.
The Asso Ventinove said that all rescued individuals, including five children, were found uninjured. The Captain said he was waiting for orders from a rescue and coordinating centre in Rome to assign them a safe place to disembark.