"This shows an absolute indifference about the lives of immigrants," Italian magistrate Maurizio Scalia told reporters.
Suspected human trafficking kingpin extradited from Sudan to Italy(Reuters)
An Eritrean man suspected of running a huge human trafficking network that sent thousands of migrants to Europe, leaving many to die on the way, was extradited from Sudan to Italy overnight, officials said.
Medhane Yehdego Mered, nicknamed "the General",
had been heard on intercepted telephone calls boasting about cramming
more people onto rickety boats than other traffickers, prosecutors said.
"This shows an absolute indifference about the lives of immigrants," Italian magistrate Maurizio Scalia told reporters.
The
35-year-old was arrested in Sudan on May 24, Italian and British
officials said, on charges of human trafficking and abetting illegal
immigration and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Magistrates
may eventually also accuse him of homicide as their investigation
continues, judicial sources said. There was no immediate comment from
any lawyer representing him.
It is the first time a suspected trafficking kingpin has been tracked down in Africa,
where many of the smuggling networks are based, and brought to face
justice in Italy since Europe's immigration crisis started almost three
years ago.
MONEY TRANSFERS
Mered is suspected of working with an Ethiopian,
Ghermay Ermias, who is still at large, prosecutors said. Between them,
they are accused of raking in huge sums by bringing migrants from Libya
to Italy across the Mediterranean.
Italy has
jurisdiction over the case because it was the first point of arrival of
most of the migrants. It is also leading the investigation into the
sinking of a vessel off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013
that killed 359.
Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA)
said it had helped track Mered to Sudan and held him responsible for
the Lampedusa tragedy. An NCA statement said he was known as "The
General" because he had styled himself on the late Libyan dictator
Muammar Gaddafi.
Palermo senior police official
Renato Cortese called Mered "the head of the situation room of a vast
operation" of traffickers and was often heard in tapped phone
conversations arranging money transfers between various European
countries.
Sicilian prosecutor Calogero Ferrara
told Reuters last year and Mered and Ermias were opportunistic,
purchasing kidnapped migrants from other criminals in Africa. By his
calculations, each boat trip of 600 people made the smugglers between
$800,000 and $1 million before costs..
The
smuggling networks have mostly eluded international law enforcement
agencies because they are based on anonymous cells spread across many
countries.
Italy has been on the frontline of the
immigration crisis. About 170,000 migrants reached Italy by sea in 2014
and 153,800 in 2015, the International Organization for Migration says.
So far this year, more than 40,000 migrants have arrived.
More
than 8,000 people are also believed to have died in the Mediterranean
since the start of 2014, some off the Italian coast and others seeking
to reach Greece. Medecins san Frontieres estimated that 900 died last week alone.
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