Agrigento, State Police arrests 3 “smugglers”
The individuals allegedly illegally procured the entry into the national territory of 24 migrants
Agrigento, State Police arrests 3 “smugglers”
On Monday evening the State Police, the Guardia di Finanza and the Coast Guard they executed 3 arrest warrants for a criminal suspect issued by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Agrigento, against 3 Tunisian citizens.
The aforementioned are held responsible for the crime referred to in art. 12 of Legislative Decree 286/98 because, in collaboration with each other and in violation of the provisions contained in the same legislative decree, they allegedly committed acts aimed at illegally procuring the entry into the national territory of 24 Tunisian migrants, transporting them to the proximity of the Italian coast on board a fishing vessel flying the Tunisian flag and then transferring them to an iron vessel and subsequently moving away, thus exposing the migrants to danger for their lives and safety.
The events occurred on the morning of November 02, when the European Frontex agency's aircraft, called "Eagle 1", spotted, in international waters, a Tunisian fishing vessel with migrants on board, towed by an apparently empty iron vessel.
The patrol boat of the Lampedusa Coast Guard, already patrolling the waters south of the island, and the Guardia di Finanza – Naval Operations Section of Lampedusa were converged on the spot.
The progressive monitoring of the vessel has highlighted that, a few moments before the arrival of the patrol boats, and once it had reached the Italian coast, the suspects transferred the migrants onto the iron boat, which had remained empty until that moment, and then fled by reversing the course of the fishing boat towards the Tunisian coast.
The arrival of the Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza patrol boats made it possible to rescue the 24 migrants left adrift at sea and on the surface of the water and also to block the fishing boat for subsequent checks.
The subsequent investigation activity conducted by the SCO, the SISCO of Palermo, the Flying Squad of Agrigento, the Guardia di Finanza - Naval Section of Lampedusa and the Coast Guard of Lampedusa, allowed to ascertain the absence on board the fishing vessel of any element that could prove the fishing activity in progress by the suspects. In fact, at the time of the tracking, the Tunisian fishing vessel was found with no fish on board and with the nets completely dry.
The arrest warrants issued by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Agrigento were executed on Monday evening on the Island of Lampedusa and the suspects were taken to the Agrigento Prison, awaiting the validation hearing.
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