Suspicious ship on the horizon!
(BRUSSELS2) The teams of the European surveillance operation at sea intercepted on Saturday (July 9) a small boat with three suspected smugglers on board in the Mediterranean, announces Operation Sophia HQ in Rome.
The small wooden boat had been spotted, about 60 km from the Libyan coast, by the Luxembourg patrol plane Merlin III SW3. The alert was then given to the Garibaldi, the flagship which directs operations at sea (EUNAVFOR MED). The German ship WERRA then headed south to intercept the suspect boat with smugglers. While the British Royal Navy's HMS Enterprise placed itself between the boat and Libyan territorial waters, thus preventing it from escaping.
Helicopters and HMS Enterprise to the rescue
The two Italian helicopters aboard the Garibaldi, the AB212 and the SH90, ensured control in the air throughout the operation while on the water the Finnish boarding teams aboard two German RIHBs, were intercepting the skiff with the suspected traffickers. This was done at 10:30 a.m. The 3 suspects were brought back on board the German support ship, the Werra. They also embarked the 146 migrants rescued by the Italian navy patrol boat Borsini (P-491) which participates in the national operation Safe Sea.
Concrete evidence of complicity
The canoe had been caught accompanying an inflatable boat in the early morning, with 146 migrants on board. "He had escorted him into Libyan territorial waters and then out of them," said a Bundeswehr officer. One of the sailors in the skiff was even filmed taking " foot aboard the migrant boat. Then he got back on the skiff later ". Which proves that he was not there by chance... All of this was observed and 'documented' both by the maritime patrol aircraft and by the helicopter on board and the ship. Suffice to say that the suspicion of complicity in trafficking is rather obvious. This evidence (photos, videos), will be very useful when going before the judge (in Italy normally).
Comment: if this is not the first time that suspects have been arrested, usually these arrests were made discreetly. The Europeans of EUNAVFOR Med preferred to speak of "reporting" to the Italian authorities. They were most often smugglers who were in migrant or refugee boats. During this arrest at sea, we no longer hide what remains the primary objective of the operation: to break the 'business model' of smugglers. The UN resolution expressly authorizing the arrest of the suspects helps build a more robust operation.
(NGV)
