Migrant traffickers arrested in Italy-bound speedboat

Three suspects have been arrested in Corfu on migrant smuggling charges after a speedboat bound for Italy was intercepted by the coast guard, authorities said on Friday.

The coast guard said the boat transporting seven migrants was stopped Thursday in the Ionian Sea, west of Corfu. Forged identity documents were found in their luggage.

The vessel was intercepted about six nautival miles southwest of the island of Mathraki.

A 69-year-old Greek man was arrested on smuggling charges along with a Greek woman aged 35. A third suspect, described as a 37-year-old foreign national, was later arrested and accused of transporting the migrants from Athens to Corfu.

Smuggling networks remain active in the southern Balkans and Ionian Sea despite a sharp drop in arrivals in Greece during the pandemic.

[AP, AMNA]