a large network of smugglers between Italy and France dismantled, eight people imprisoned

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 suspects were arrested in Grigny (Essonne), Goussainville and Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d’Oise).

They would have allowed at least a thousand migrants to cross the border between Italy and France before joining other European countries. The migrants, mainly Indians and Pakistanis, left from Turin, Bologna, Milan to reach Essonne and Val-d’Oise, where they were accommodated, before joining, for the most part, Great Britain or Spain. , 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.