Italian police break up migrant smuggling ring in one of biggest operations
LONDON - Italian police have broken up a criminal ring which smuggled at least 100 migrants from the northern city of Milan to other European countries in what authorities described as one of the biggest operations of its kind.
Italy has been on the frontline of Europe's immigration crisis. About 170,000 migrants reached Italy by sea in 2014 and 153,800 came in 2015. So far this year, more than 79,000 migrants have arrived, the vast majority of them Africans.
Police said they arrested and charged 10 people with smuggling offences, including the suspected ringleader, a 37-year-old Egyptian man. The arrests were made in raids across four northern provinces this week.
