LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Human smuggling gangs are increasingly hiring Ukrainian sailors to captain yachts and other boats for migrants willing to pay up to $8,000 for safe passage to Europe, Italian police said on Wednesday, after the arrest of two suspected traffickers.
On Tuesday, Italian police arrested two Ukrainians accused of trying to smuggle 50 Pakistani men to Italy on a 12-meter sail boat, the latest incident involving professional Ukrainian sailors and a luxury vessel, a senior police official said.
“It’s a growing phenomenon,” said the official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to journalists. – READ MORE
