Prosecutors in Treviso are investigating a migrant center in the former military barracks 'Serena di Casier' in the northeastern Veneto city after the number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed from two to 257 in less than two months. The center's management was accused of failing to separate migrants who had tested positive for the virus from the other guests.
Italian authorities have placed 56 people under investigation, arrested one person and placed four others under mandatory residence following an investigation into arranged marriages with Italian citizens to enable South American and North African migrants to obtain a stay permit, investigative sources said on July 24.
A lucrative racket involving fake marriages and falsified exams of Italian language to aid clandestine immigration have been discovered by Milan police. Five people were arrested and 78 were placed under investigation on July 3.
Belgian authorities on Sunday said they rescued 15 migrants from a rubber dinghy that was taking in water 11 kilometers off the Belgian coast. The migrants were attempting to reach the United Kingdom from France.
A trial opened on May 18 in Trapani against eight people, including Italian and Tunisian citizens, accused of trafficking migrants from North Africa to Italy. The foreigners were forced to pay between 1,500 and 4,000 euros for a trip, according to investigators.
Two Afghan members of Parliament investigating the alleged abuse and drowning of Afghan migrants by Iranian guards say 45 people died in the incident. 17 bodies have so far been recovered from the Harirud River, which forms part of Afghanistan’s northern border with Iran.
Iran is denying its border guards beat, tortured and forced Afghan migrants into a river where some drowned. The Afghan government has launched an investigation and promised "necessary" action.
Four Pakistani nationals have been arrested on charges of exploiting asylum seekers in the Italian countryside, paying them only 50 euros per month. "I was a virtual prisoner," one of the victims of a group that was allegedly involved in illegal labor intermediation and exploitation said.
Italian authorities have reported six Pakistani citizens in Italy accused of exploiting at least 70 workers, who were given meager wages and forced to work in unseemly conditions to deliver advertising materials door to door.
Migrants exploited by their fellow countrymen in northern Italy were paid three euros per hour for 11-hour days to prune vines and harvest grapes, according to an investigation by carabinieri in Venice, Padua, and Rovigo. The probe led to four being placed under house arrest on Wednesday.
Italian authorities have dismantled a criminal organization that issued fraudulent work contracts to migrant workers. Over 200 fake documents were allegedly distributed over the course of two years.
Italian authorities have taken over a migrant hosting center in Naples because of overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions.