Two Bangladeshi nationals, aged 32 and 24, have been detained on charges of criminal association aimed at abducting and torturing migrants to extort money as well as favoring illegal immigration, investigative sources said on Tuesday, October 11.

The arrest warrants for the two men have been confirmed by a preliminary investigations judge (GIP).

One of the suspects was arrested in the Sicilian city of Agrigento, the other in the northeastern city of Gorizia, where he had been transferred.

The pair arrived at the hotspot of Lampedusa at the end of September, the sources said. They reached the island on separate boats from the Bangladeshi migrants they allegedly held prisoners and tortured at a detention camp in Zuwarah, Libya, according to investigators.

The Bangladeshi migrants were allegedly held and tortured so they would pay, or finish paying, the sums agreed with migrant smugglers at the beginning of their journey in Bangladesh.

Up to 10,000 euros for a trip from Bangladesh to Italy

The flying squad in Agrigento, coordinated by deputy police chief Giovanni Minarvi, identified the pair after questioning a number of Bangladeshi migrants who spoke about their ordeal, despite their fear after meeting the suspects at the local hotspot, investigative sources said.

The probe -- coordinated by DDA anti-mafia investigators in Palermo -- revealed that Bangladeshi migrants paid up to €10,000 for a trip from Bangladesh to Italy's coasts, the sources said.

Those who paid prior to departure from Libya were treated well at the detention camp, according to investigators: they stayed there for a short period of time, had health assistance if necessary and even a fan.

Nationality of camp guards, migrants has changed -investigators

The nationality of migrants and their guards in Libyan camps is changing, investigative sources said. Over the past few months, they aren't only Libyan and Egyptian but also Bangladeshi nationals, with an increase in Bangladeshi migrant landings recorded on Lampedusa.

According to a new investigation carried out by the Agrigento flying squad, with the coordination of DDA anti-mafia investigators in Palermo, the owners of detention camps in Libya are increasingly using as guards fellow countrymen of the migrants they host.

This ensures that in overcrowded detention camps -- which can host up to 2,500 people -- the migrants can be kept under close watch by people of the same nationality who also make sure that they give all the money they promised prior to their departure.

Indeed a rising number of Bangladeshi nationals are reaching Libya, the well-informed sources said. Here, they are guarded and tortured by fellow Bangladeshi migrants -- a role previously held almost exclusively by Libyan and Egyptian citizens -- who profit from their role with benefits for their departure to Italy, investigators said.