A Tunisian citizen accused of transporting migrants illegally from North Africa to Italy has been arrested by border police in Ventimiglia, northwest Italy. The suspect was wanted over a migrant landing at the end of July on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria.
A 32-year-old Tunisian citizen accused of illegally transporting migrants from North Africa to Sicily was arrested over the weekend of August 15 by border police in Ventimiglia. He is accused of facilitating the transport of a number of six migrants to Pantelleria, Sicily at the end of July.
Border police in the Liguria city said on August 17 that they had intercepted the man on board a train coming from France, from where he had been evicted.
Police at the Ponte San Luigi crossing between France and Italy did not find any documents on him but further investigations allowed security officials to identify him successfully.
Accusations of smuggling Tunisians to Sicily
Police said the man reached Pantelleria on July 23 on a boat carrying six foreign nationals from Tunisia. One of the migrants who landed on the Sicilian island showed police officials a video he had filmed with his cell in which the 32-year-old could be seen behind the helm of the boat.
After the arrest, the man was taken to prison in San Remo.
Further arrests at the border
Six additional foreigners were arrested by border police during weekend. Security officials examined thousands of documents and checked a total of 3,277 people and some 400 vehicles, according to data provided by the police.
The foreigners who were arrested included a 31-year-old Senegalese citizen who resides in the province of Cuneo in the Piedmont region, where he was supposed to be serving time under house arrest after being convicted for aggravated robbery. After a fast-track trial, he was reportedly taken to jail.
A 33-year-old Nigerian national was also arrested after a police inspection on a train coming from Nice. The only document he was carrying on his person reportedly was a French asylum request. He had a police record for convictions pertaining to robbery and to conspiracy to commit robbery in 2019 as well as a deportation decree against him which had been issued by the prefect of Verona in January 2021.
The other suspects arrested were a 24-year-old Algerian against whom an deportation decree had been issued by the prefect of Cagliari; a 35-year-old Moroccan with a record of drug-smuggling charges and aggravated theft; a 20-year-old Syrian arrested for using fake documents; and a 27-year-old Tunisian national without a permit to stay in Italy.