Greeks Arrest Suspected Smugglers over Boat Filled with Nearly 500 Migrants

Rescued refugees and migrants stand aboard a boat at the town of Paleochora, southwestern
COSTAS METAXAKIS/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Tomlinson

Greek authorities have arrested seven Egyptian nationals accused of people-smuggling after a boat with nearly 500 migrants aboard was brought to the island of Crete this week.

The seven Egyptians are believed to have crewed the fishing boat that was heading from Libya to Italy but was intercepted after a distress call due to high winds at sea and lost steering ability and brought to the Greek island of Crete.

The 82-foot-long fishing boat contained a total of 483 migrants, one of the largest individual shipments of migrants to land in Greece in years, newspaper Ekathimerini reports.

On Friday, the seven Egyptians were arrested by Greek authorities. They are believed to be a part of a smuggling ring which charged the migrants on the ship up to $4,000/£3,308 for the journey from Libya to Italy.

According to the Greek coastguard, the ship contained 336 adult men, ten women, 128 supposed minors who were male, and nine girls, with the migrants coming mostly from Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Palestine, and Sudan.

Boats with hundreds of migrants on board crossing the Mediterranean are now relatively rare, but the number of migrants crossing the sea from North Africa to the European Union overall has surged in 2022, with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) claiming over 92,000 migrants have arrived in Italy alone so far this year.

Frontex, the European Union border agency, released a report earlier this month on illegal entries into the EU, noting that in the first ten months of 2022 the bloc had seen a 74 per cent rise in illegal arrivals.

While the report noted a 59 per cent increase on the Central Mediterranean route, the Eastern Mediterranean, where Greece is one of the main points of entry, has seen a 122 per cent increase, with 35,343 illegal crossings between January and October.

Greek authorities have launched multiple investigations into the activities of people-smugglers on their borders, including one last month that suggested pro-migration NGOs may be coordinating with smugglers to help migrants enter their country illegally.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

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