Border Police tackle migrant smuggling from Greece
The Border Police of Orio Al Serio (Bergamo) broke up a smuggling ring facilitating illegal immigration into the European Union, especially Italy, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, and Germany.
The police suspicions were fuelled by an email address of an Athens-based travel agency, which appeared very frequently in the Passenger Name Record (PNR) database.
After cross-checking the data available, the investigators found out that the email address in question had been used in many reservations made by dozens of Albanians, Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Somalis, Eritreans, and Romanians who had tried to enter Italy illegally in 2014.
The investigation conducted by the Italian police, called "Foedus 46" led to the arrest in Greece, Sweden, and Spain, of 22 foreign nationals (Egyptians, Pakistanis, Syrians, and Romanians), who were charged with favoring illegal immigration. The operation also prevented numerous citizens of third countries from illegally entering some Schengen countries (Italy - Spain - Belgium - Germany - Sweden - Norway) from Greece by exhibiting false documents.
The vast migrant smuggling could be dismantled thanks to real time information exchanges, mainly with Greece (reservation/boarding) carried out through the Italian security expert detached in Greece from the International Police Cooperation Service - SCIP.