Police in the southern Italian city of Crotone have arrested the suspected ringleader of a human trafficking network who was sentenced in France to ten years in prison for criminal association.

Controls at the French border on the northern Channel coast through the deployment of police, drones, thermal cameras, and Frontex planes – have pushed smugglers to launch their boats dozens of kilometers further south such as in N1

Deportations as a way to manage irregular migration are a key priority for the European Union. Magnus Brunner, the European Union's top migration official, said this week he was determined to "deliver" on the "topic of returns."

Data released by Frontex regarding the so-called Balkan route, the route migrants use via the Balkans towards Western Europe, only shows part of the reality, thinks the Italian organization Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS).