Greek police have arrested 15 Afghan immigrants as they were about to board two private planes to Italy. The arrests in the northeastern Greek city of Kavala occurred on Friday evening, according to a police announcement on Saturday.
Six suspected people traffickers were also arrested, including a Moroccan woman. Police say the 19-year-old Moroccan woman is an employee of a Milan travel agency that had chartered the two planes for EUR 36,000 (USD 46,500) on behalf of a Britain-based client.
The traffickers’ plan was to fly the migrants to Genoa in northern Italy, as tourists, was entirely new to Greek police.
It is not known how the 15 Afghans, made up of three families, found their way to Greece. What police do know, Loupeidis said, is that they bought fake Danish identity documents in the capital Athens for EUR 1,000 (USD 1,300) each.
“There is an ongoing investigation of a migrant-smuggling network. We are focusing on the network’s connections in Italy and Britain,” Kavala police chief Emmanuel Loupeidis said.
On Friday, the Afghans were driven from Athens to Kavala in four taxis, with each taxi driver being paid EUR 700 (USD 900) for the 680-kilometer (420-mile) ride. The four drivers were arrested on their way back to Athens and their taxis impounded, police said.
The 15 Afghans and the Moroccan woman appeared before a misdemeanours court magistrate in Kavala on Saturday, police stated. They face charges of using forged documents and attempting to leave the country illegally. The travel agency employee and the drivers also face charges of migrant trafficking.
Afghans said they had paid EUR 1,000 (USD 1,300) per family for the flight to Genoa, Loupeidis confirmed.
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