(Souleimaniyeh) Iraqi Kurdistan announced Tuesday the arrest of four smugglers suspected of “human trafficking” for their involvement in the sinking of a sailboat off the Italian coast, a tragedy that left around thirty dead and dozens of missing people.
More than 60 people were missing after the sailboat sank off the coast of Calabria in mid-June, while 11 people were rescued. According to NGOs and testimonies from victims’ relatives, the boat was carrying a majority of Kurds from Iraq and Iran, but also Afghan families.
In connection with this affair, “four people considered to be leaders in human trafficking were arrested,” the Assayech, security forces of Kurdistan, an autonomous region in northern Iraq, announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The text only gives the initials of the four smugglers, “suspected of being involved in the illegal journey of inhabitants of the Kurdistan region to the Italian coast, which led to the sinking of their yacht”.
The four men were arrested in the province of Sulaymaniyah, the second city in the autonomous region, a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
According to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 3,155 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean last year and more than 1,000 people have died or gone missing since the start of the year.
The central Mediterranean is the deadliest migration route in the world and accounts for 80% of deaths and missing in the Mediterranean. Many migrants leave Tunisia or Libya by boat for Europe, with Italy often being their first point of arrival.
In mid-May, the authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan announced the arrest of a migrant smuggler nicknamed “Scorpion”, wanted in several European countries.