4 Afghans accused of migrant trafficking arrested in France, Germany

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) – Four Afghan citizens accused of migrant smuggling were arrested on Tuesday in France and Germany as part of an Italian investigation.

Authorities said the four people were part of a network of human traffickers with cells in Türkiye, Italy, France, and Germany ferrying the migrants to Calabria in southern Italy and then carrying them to other European countries. An Italian judge ordered the arrests.

Italy’s Carabinieri police, which ran the operation in collaboration with German and French police under the coordination of Eurojust and Europol, began investigating after a surge in migrants’ arrivals on the Calabrian coast in 2020 during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authorities arrested three people in France, one accused of transporting the migrants from Calabria to France, one of liaising between the relatives of the migrants and the transporter, and one who was dealing with the reception of the migrants in France. A fourth one was arrested in Germany where he lives, accused of managing the payments for the illegal transport.

“It was key to the investigation spotting how the migrants were paying (the smugglers),” said Colonel Massimiliano Galasso of the Carabinieri.

He said the migrants paid €1,500 ($1,600) per person to the smugglers via the hawala system, an informal channel for transferring funds.