Migrants, mainly Indians and Pakistanis, left Italy to reach the Parisian suburbs before joining, for the most part, other European countries.
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A network of smugglers between Italy and France was dismantled after ten months of investigation, franceinfo learned Thursday February 22 from the Office for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Migrants (Oltim). Eight Pakistani suspects were imprisoned for “aiding the entry into circulation or illegal stay of a foreigner in France in conditions incompatible with human dignity in an organized gang” and “participation in a criminal association”.
The migrants, mainly Indians and Pakistanis, left Turin, Bologna, Milan to reach Essonne and Val-d’Oise, where they were accommodated before joining, for the most part, Great Britain, or Spain, the Portugal and Germany. They paid between 500 and 1,000 euros to cross the borders between European countries. In total, the suspects’ turnover is estimated at 400,000 euros. In total, a migrant could pay up to 20,000 euros to travel from India or Pakistan.
It was after discovering 20 migrants crammed into a truck in January 2023 in Pontault-Combault (Seine-et-Marne) that Oltim launched its investigations. In these vans, conditions were unsanitary for these migrants who notably had to urinate in bottles.
