Criminal gangs are allegedly using "fake families" to exploit Britain's skilled worker visa system as a route to smuggle people into the country, an investigation revealed. Under the skilled worker visa scheme, someone with a job offer in the UK is allowed to bring their dependents with them.
The five border guards were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes and breach of duty. Amidst tighter sea patrols, more migrants are attempting to cross the River Evros, Greece’s natural border with Turkey.
German federal police have reportedly busted a globally operating migrant smuggling gang in two German states. Over the past 18 months, the gang members allegedly smuggled 80 migrants to Germany via the Balkan route.
Following the announced release of imprisoned people smugglers in Hungary, fellow EU member state Austria has tightened border controls with its neighbor to the east.
Italian police say that they have dismantled an organization that allegedly smuggled migrants to Italy from Turkey and Greece on sailboats across the Mediterranean. Investigators have issued 29 pre-trial detention orders in connection with the case.
Police has arrested 17 people in several Italian cities. They are accused of smuggling migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and Libya through Italy to other European countries, mostly France, for over €1,000 per person.
The arrest of fifteen alleged human smugglers in Calabria represents the first application of the so-called "Cutro decree" which introduces a 20 to 30 years prison sentence for human traffickers. Last week, 13 Egyptian and three Syrian nationals were arrested.
Greek authorities have arrested more than 40 people who allegedly were involved in a people smuggling network. Over 2,300 migrants are alleged to have come in and out of the country with their help.
The Italian town of Roccella Ionica and the surrounding coastline in the southern Calabria region have become a new destination for migrants departing from Libya.
After a shipwreck off southern Italy in late February left 88 people dead, smugglers still asked survivors to pay for the trip, a witness told a preliminary investigations judge this week.
New items of surveillance equipment known as 'camera traps' are to be installed along the border between Slovenia and Italy. The devices will be used to detect undocumented migrants and smugglers on this part of the so-called Balkans route.
German Federal Police discovered eight Syrians, including a four-year-old child, in a van on Monday. The van was stopped near the A93 motorway, not far from the Austrian border.