Tag: People smugglers

Six men have been found guilty of trying to illegally smuggle Albanian migrants across the English Channel in speedboats.

Police have busted an alleged people-smuggling gang after intercepting a speedboat full of illegal migrants in the dead of night on the Dover coast on Friday.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned that the United Kingdom’s soft border with the Irish Republic is being exploited by people smugglers, as Prime Minister Theresa May “sells out” Brexit in order to keep it as open as possible.

(AP) — Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has rescued 366 migrants attempting the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea this weekend.

A two-year-old girl has died in Belgium from a gunshot wound to the head after reportedly being held out of the window of a van full of migrants to keep pursuing police at a distance.

(THE TIMES) — A gang who used jet skis to smuggle migrants across the Strait of Gibraltar in trips that took half an hour and cost £3,500 has been broken up by Spanish police.

Police in Montpellier has taken down a network of migrants from the Ivory Coast who used forged documents to claim that they were underage when they were actually adults.

Turkey has been accused of allowing migrants to “surge” into Greece amid a dispute over EU funding, as Europol reveals they are tracking some 65,000 people-smugglers.

Since last summer the number of migrants crossing from Libya has greatly declined, but new figures show that the number is rising once again as Libya becomes increasingly unstable.

Cyprus police say a 36-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly driving one of a pair of boats that brought 305 Syrian refugees to the island’s northwestern coast.

Several media sources have claimed that the reduction in migrant numbers into Italy has come about because of a secret agreement between the Italians and people traffickers – allegations the government denies.

Facebook is hosting people smuggling advertisements, with gangs offering to take migrants to Europe and America, make them fake passports, and traffic them across the European Union (EU).

ROME (AP) — Greek authorities say they have arrested three men on suspicion of ferrying 69 refugees or migrants on a yacht to the island of Zakynthos off the western coast of Greece’s mainland.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its so-called “rescue” missions ferrying migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe.

Officials have warned of a new ‘back door’ illegal migration route opening and a wave of asylum seekers boating to the UK after a group of Iranian migrants arrived on British shores in a rubber dinghy.

At least 56 people have drowned over the past 24 hours, and dozens remain missing, after human traffickers forced 300 African migrants off two Yemen-bound boats and into the sea.

The ringleader of people smuggling ring who illegally brought thousands of mostly-Iranian nationals into the UK has been apprehended at Heathrow airport.

ROME (AP) — Italian authorities ordered a German group’s migrant rescue vessel seized Wednesday, alleging that its crew took on migrants directly from smugglers’ boats near Libya’s coast.

A new report has revealed that people smugglers in the Mediterranean may be making as much as £400,000 for every ship that crosses the sea to Europe. The people smuggling business in North Africa may be more lucrative than many have

Criminal people-smugglers are generating around 35 billion USD in revenue from the migrant trade, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Lacy Swing, who heads the United Nations agency, estimated that around 1,700 migrants have died while in the

Two Albanians and a polish lorry driver have been jailed for their involvement in the “appalling but profitable” people smuggling business, after 20 illegals migrants were found in the back of a lorry.

The number of migrants deaths in the Mediterranean has increased sharply this year, even as the overall number of migrants making the risky trip has fallen. The figures have been highlighted in a report by Amnesty International on human rights

The European Union (EU) task force in the Mediterranean is doing a “wonderful job” of rescuing illegal migrants at sea and escorting them to Europe, say French MPs, but failing to fulfil its primary role of tackling criminal people-smugglers. “Today

The German government has admitted that “Operation Sophia”, which rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, has actually benefitted people smugglers and their business.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Up to 700 migrants could arrive on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus next week on smuggling trips from Turkey, a top Cypriot official said Saturday, hours after 93 migrants landed in the dark on the island’s northwestern shore.

(AP) – Three employees with Swedish broadcaster SVT face charges of having smuggled a 15-year-old Syrian boy to the Scandinavian country during the 2015 migrant influx that swept across Europe.

Organised crime is diversifying its activities as traditional drug smugglers are now expanding into the growing market of human trafficking, according to European Union police agency Europol.

United Nations refugee agency UNHCR claims they have discovered people smugglers using Facebook to entice migrants to make the trip to Europe.

The mass landing on the coast of Sardinia of 158 illegal Algerian migrants has been described by police as well organised and indicative that a new, regular stream of North Africans may be heading for the small Italian island.

Smugglers who transport migrants from North Africa across the Mediterranean to Europe are said to have given many of them a mixture of diesel and other substances to keep them quiet. A new report ffrommedical staff at the University of

Two men have been jailed after attempting to smuggle 13 Albanian men and one child into the UK across the Channel in a small motor boat. Jonathan Bridgeman, 42, the owner of the boat, was handed a sentence of two-and-a-half-years

(REUTERS) – Five Slovaks are facing charges of smuggling at least 300 illegal migrants last year from Hungary to western Europe, mostly to Germany and Italy, Slovakian police said on Friday.

Eight men are currently awaiting trial in a Hungarian court after an intense investigation led to their arrests for the deaths of some 71 migrants who died in a truck last year along the side of the road. During the

MILAN, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Police in Italy, Hungary and Slovenia on Saturday arrested four people in a coordinated operation targeting a group suspected of smuggling illegal migrants into Italy from the Balkans, Italian police said.

Italy launched an internet, TV and radio campaign on Thursday to discourage Africans from setting out on the often deadly voyage to Europe.