File photo: Police vehicles parked at the police headquarters in Bari where an A fghan asylum seeker was arrested on the basis of a European warrant | Photo: Polizia di Stato / ANSA
File photo: Police vehicles parked at the police headquarters in Bari where an A fghan asylum seeker was arrested on the basis of a European warrant | Photo: Polizia di Stato / ANSA

An Afghan asylum seeker has been arrested in Italy, on the basis of a European arrest warrant for transporting migrants, including women and children, in refrigerated lorries across France with the aim of arriving in the UK.

A 40-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was arrested on November 7 in the Italian port city of Bari on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by the Belgian authorities for allegedly transporting migrants including women and children in refrigerated lorries across France.

The man is wanted by the authorities at the European level for aiding and abetting clandestine immigration.

He "allegedly organized and carried out numerous illicit acts of transportation of migrants, including women and very small children, by hiding them inside refrigerated lorries used for the transportation of perishable goods, and transiting along the Paris-Lille highway for the purpose of reaching the United Kingdom," the police headquarters noted reporting the arrest on November 13.

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Arrest at train station on arrival from Milan

The flying squad discovered that the 40-year-old had been in Italy's northern city of Milan and was about to arrive by train in Bari.

They arrested him near the central train station in the southern port city on the basis of an EU arrest warrant.

The man was then transferred to the Bari jail and placed at the disposal of the head of the appeals court for extradition procedures in line with the warrant.

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