This week, in the ongoing trial against three defendants suspected of being involved in the shipwreck where at least 94 people lost their lives last year off the Italian town of Cutro, a series of voice messages from the platform WhatsApp were listened to.

As soon as the boat reached Italian waters, the suspected smugglers sent passengers on board the ill-fated boat voice messages asking them to pay around €8,000 for their trip, suggested a series of WhatsApp messages found on the phone of one of the three defendents.

The series of messages formed the center of the hearing on February 13, being held in the court room in Crotone in connection with the February 26 shipwreck last year. At least 94 people died and an unspecified number of passengers went missing after their wooden boat sank in rough seas near the small beach town of Steccato di Cutro, in the southern Italian region of Calabria.

Chats with alleged traffickers

The defendants have been named in the Italian press and comprise one 50-year old Turkish national Sami F, and two Pakistani nationals, a 25 year old, Khalid A. and a 22 year old Ishaq H. They all face charges of culpable shipwreck, aiding and abetting illegal immigration and manslaughter in connection with another crime. Another suspected trafficker, a 29-year-old Turkish man, had been sentenced to 20 years in prison and a €3 million fine last week.

Deputy police commissioner Carlo D'Angelo testified at the hearing, describing what investigators believe occurred between the alleged traffickers and passengers after examining a series of WhatsApp voice messages sent between February 1 and 26 by Ishaq H. and suspected traffickers, his co-defendant Khalid A. and other people.

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The messages revealed, stated D'Angelo, that "Ishaq H had the role of managing and organizing Pakistani migrants in safe houses."

Ishaq H. was the "contact person for Pakistanis and made sure, in messages with traffickers, that migrants had paid prior to their departure. In one of these [messages], you could hear a trafficker saying: 'You have to tell Khalid A. to ask relatives to unlock the money'.

The message was sent when they reached Italian waters", he continued.

More traffickers are being investigated as a result of evidence

In the many messages examined by investigators, explained D'Angelo, the defendant "names traffickers, people who are being probed in an ongoing investigation."

Prosecutor Pasquale Festa at that point intervened to stop the police officers from revealing more about the investigation while he was on the stand.

Some of the audio messages were sent by passengers on the boat who presumably used that phone to reassure relatives once they had reached Italian waters, D'Angelo said. In the messages "they said 'We have arrived, God loves us", explained the police officer.

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An examination of the phone also allowed investigators to determine that the trips from Turkey to Europe were code-named 'Game' and that the price for a ticket was around €8,000, D'Angelo added.

Defense lawyer questions police process

The defense lawyer of the two Pakistani defendants, Salvatore Perri, asked the witness for an explanation on translations, for the identity of the mediator who translated voice messages - who could not be tracked down - and whether a sound test had been carried out to determine whether the voice on the messages belonged to the defendant.

The witness replied that he had only pieced together the story by examining the voice messages. Perri noted that the defendant in Turkey lived at the time with other Pakistanis who used his cell phone.

Sami F's lawyer, Teresa Palladini, asked whether the messages spoke about her client. D'Angelo replied that they didn't.