Italian police swoop on gang who smuggled migrants into Europe by private jet

Each passenger would pay more than £8,000 and be given fake diplomatic papers

File: A private jet (Getty Images)

Police have arrested five people in Rome and Brussels for smuggling migrants from Turkey to western Europe on private jets.

Each migrant passenger would pay around 10,000 euros (£8,600), Italian police said Wednesday. They would be given fake diplomatic papers from St. Kitts and Nevis and put them on aircraft headed to the Caribbean state with a stopover in Europe.

The suspects are accused of belonging to a criminal organisation aimed at assisting illegal immigration, a statement said.

Upon landing in a European airport, the migrants, described as mostly ethnic Kurds or Iraqis, would get off, declare their real identity and file for asylum, Italian police said.

Investigators documented five separate landings in Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Belgium between October and December 2020.

The suspects were arrested following joint investigations by police forces from the five European countries, with help from US authorities.

Three men - an Italian and two Egyptians - were detained in Rome, while another Egyptian and a Tunisian woman were arrested in Brussels, police chief Costantino Scudieri told Reuters.

Two more suspects remain on the run in Italy and Belgium. As part of the operation, Belgian police also seized two private jets worth almost £400,000.

(With agencies)