Five caught smuggling migrants into Europe via jets from Türkiye

BRUSSELS

Five people, who were smuggling migrants into Europe for $10,000 on private jets departing from Türkiye, have been arrested in Italy and Belgium, Italian police announced on Sept. 14, according to British private broadcaster Sky News.

The migrants, carrying fake diplomatic IDs from St. Kitts and Nevis, left Türkiye on private jets for their official destination Caribbean Island but got off during the stopover in European airports.

Following the landing, mostly in Western Europe, the migrants, who were mostly Kurds or Iraqi citizens, destroyed their fake IDs and applied for asylum.

The investigation, which started after noticing the suspicious flight route, was organized by security forces from the five European countries with the participation of the U.S. forces and Europol.

An Italian and two Egyptian men were caught in Rome, while an Egyptian and another Tunisian woman were detained in Brussels, Italian police chief Constantino Scudieri explained, adding that two suspects were still on the run.

Pointing out that the organization issued fake check and defrauded airlines to build their own aircraft fleet, the investigators said that the member of the organization did not make payments to many hotels.

Investigators also declared that nearly five flights between October and December 2020 took the migrants to Italy, France, Austria, Germany and Belgium.

As part of the investigation, Belgian police have seized two private jets worth $426,000.