Italian maritime authorities have arrested four Tunisian fishermen for allegedly plundering small boats—most of them carrying illegal migrants from sub-Saharan Africa—making the voyage from Tunisia to the coast of Sicily, and putting lives at risk in the process.
The four men, who have been accused by survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Malta days ago of causing the boat to capsize when they attempted to steal its engine, were arrested during a joint operation carried out on Sunday, July 30th, by the Agrigento Police and the Guardia di Finanza, and the Coast Guard of Lampedusa, Il Tempo reports.
Following a shipwreck, allegedly instigated by the suspects, Italian authorities rescued thirty-seven migrants from the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, and Cameroon and ferried them back to the island of Lampedusa. A 35-year-old Ivorian woman lost her life while five others, including a child, are missing and presumed to be dead.
Authorities have impounded the vessel and have charged the men with piracy on the high seas, an offense that violates both the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Italian shipping code. The suspects, all of whom are being held in pre-trial detention, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The incident that caused the shipwreck is not an isolated case, according to the authorities, who say, increasingly, crews of Tunisian fishermen are leaving behind the profession for more lucrative—and illegal—endeavors.
“The investigations made it possible to ascertain that several crews of Tunisian fishing boats have ceased to be fishermen and have dedicated themselves to the more lucrative activity of pirates, plundering the numerous small iron boats that continue to leave from the coasts of Sfax, Tunisia,” a press release from the Agrigento Prosecutor’s Office reads.
As the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) reported:
Investigators said another attempted theft was reported at the end of April when a four-year-old girl fell from a migrant ship and drowned — allegedly because crew members of a Tunisian trawler hijacked the boat on which she was travelling and tried to steal the engine.
The first time migrants spoke about a similar theft was on March 26, people familiar with the matter explained. Then, a seven-meter-long boat carrying 42 people was found adrift in the Mediterranean without its engine. Passengers said crew members of a Tunisian trawler had stolen it.
Investigators say that nearly half of the vessels ferrying illegal migrants along the Central Mediterranean route, one of the most dangerous migrant routes, that are rescued at sea are discovered without engines. They say Tunisian gangs aboard fishing boats steal the engines and sell them to migrant traffickers, adding that the gang members target boats carrying Subsaharan Africans—Gambian, Ivorian, Guinean, Senegalese, Sudanese, and Burkinabe citizens—but not Tunisians.
“The arrest of a commander of a Tunisian speedboat and the three crew members accused of piracy against some groups of migrants in distress is confirmation of how crucial it is to fight irregular immigration and also to protect the migrants themselves, who end up in the hands of unscrupulous criminals who seriously endanger their lives,” Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said following the arrests.
“The very serious episode that emerges from the investigations testifies to the dangerous nature of the central Mediterranean route and the importance of the action taken by this government to counter criminals who seek to enrich themselves in any way, including by ensuring adequate operational support to the countries of departure of the bargees,” added the minister, stressing, on the occasion of the International Day against Human Trafficking, celebrated on July 30th “the duty of all states to act together to defeat this global scourge that affects the countries of origin, transit, and destination of the victims, mostly women and children.”
