Italian police announced it has dismantled a network of foreign citizens aiding and abetting clandestine migration, in an operation that led to several arrests and 18 people under inquiry.
A network of foreign nationals facilitating clandestine migration across the Italian-French border at Ventimiglia-Nice has been dismantled in a joint operation by Italian and French police.
A total of 18 people are under investigation.
In France, six people were arrested in Nice and placed under precautionary measures. Meanwhile, Italian police detained eight suspects: seven were subjected to a ban on residence, and one was placed in pre-trial detention.
Among those arrested were five individuals caught in flagrante delicto including drivers who helped transport migrants across the border. This group included four French nationals, among them two women.
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Migrants paid 75 to 250 to cross the border
On the morning of May 23, a press conference was held at the border police station in Ventimiglia, where authorities detailed the criminal organization's modus operandi and presented the results of the investigation.
The network, based in France, organized at least 300 trips. Migrants seeking to cross from Ventimiglia paid between 75 and 250 euros per person per trip. The joint operation that led to the network’s dismantling was codenamed "Scenic."
The migrants were contacted in the Ventimiglia area and then entrusted to the smuggler, who would take them across the border on vehicles, often rented, with a French license plate.
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The inquiry started in November 2023
The investigation started in November 2023 with a series of surveillance activities by the information and Judicial Police squads of the Ventimiglia border.
The investigation reached a turning point with the identification of the Renault Scenic car (which then gave the name to the entire operation) with three North African nationals on board. The monitoring operation then spread to an additional 20 vehicles, including cars and vans, almost all of them with a French license plate, many of which had been regularly rented or registered to ghost garages. The foreigners -- Tunisians, Egyptians, Bengalis, and Iraqis -- would normally be driven across the border five at a time.
The trips would take place in the early afternoon, late evening, and in the first hours of the morning, and the transport would end in Nice, leaving the migrants at train and bus stations or service areas.