(ANSA) – Bari, March 5 – Police on Thursday busted a major human trafficking racket whose members referred to the immigrants they shipped from Libya to Italy as “tuna fish, “crates of tomatoes” or, if they were minors, “school satchels” during telephone calls.

Thirteen people were arrested in Sicily and Calabria in the south and Lombardy and Emilia Romagna in the north, of whom police said several would face kidnapping charges. Investigators described the gang as “multiethnic and very dangerous.” The gang was largely made up of Sudanese but also included a Tunisian, a Ugandan, an Iraqi, an Eritrean and a Moroccan woman.

The police operation was an offshoot of one in 2005 which cracked down on a gang of foreigners suspected of having links with international terrorism. Evidence gathered later showed that while the group had no ties to terrorism, it was part of a large international organization involved in human trafficking with branches in the countries the immigrants originated from as well as in Libya and Italy. Investigators explained that branches in countries like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan would recruit immigrants who were then taken to the Libyan port of Souara. From there the Libyan members of the organization would take over and arrange to have the immigrants brought to Italy by sea, usually to the island of Lampedusa. The criminal organization maintained contact with the immigrants even after their arrival in Italy, where a Sudanese gang leader monitored their transfer to immigration processing centers in the cities of Crotone, Agrigento and Caltanissetta. Through his agents in the centers, the Sudanese gang leader not only arranged for the immigrants to escape but also organized their transfer to cities in northern Italy. For every immigrant transported from Souara to Italian shores the organization made between 1,500 and 4,000 euros, and 2,000 euros for minors, police said. Investigators were able to ascertain that in at least 20 cases the immigrants were held hostage by the gang and released only after relatives paid a ransom.

The president of the State Security Commission (Copasir), Francesco Rutelli, congratulated the police on busting the racket. “Human trafficking is by now one of the foremost businesses of organized crime, which has devastating implications and increases our country’s insecurity,” he said. Rutelli added that Copasir would present a report on human trafficking to parliament by the end of April which would recommend further measures to help combat the problem.

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