Migrant smuggling

German police on Thursday said they had broken up a people-smuggling ring that brought an estimated 2,000 people illegally into the European Union.

Police arrested 11 Turkish and German suspects in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, according to the Stuttgart bureau of the federal police. Turkish authorities arrested another 33 suspects in the Istanbul area in February as part of the same operation, the bureau said.

The group was operating mostly in Istanbul for the past three years. Trucks were allegedly used with hollowed-out storage spaces in which as many as 113 people could fit.

The migrants were smuggled by truck into Athens and by ferry to Italy, where they spread out to other EU states.

"Those being smuggled faced significant risks to their health and lives, depending on high temperatures and the materials used to cover them in the hold," the police statement said. "This case makes clear that organized crime is also very active in this area and has increasingly specialized in breaching the borders of the Schengen zone."

The Schengen Agreement, which allows border-free travel within 23 EU states and three non-EU states, has come under scrutiny after Italy issued a number of temporary residence permits to immigrants from northern Africa, allowing them free travel in the Schengen zone.

In response, the European Commission proposed reforms that would allow states to reintroduce border controls in extreme situations.

Author: Andrew Bowen (AFP, dpa)
Editor: Susan Houlton