Police, coast guard break large migrant trafficking ring

The Greek Police and the coast guard have broken a criminal racket believed to have been smuggling undocumented migrants from the northern region of Evros to Attica and then onwards to Italy, it emerged on Monday.

According to sources, the ring would smuggle the migrants into Greece via the Turkish land border before transporting them down to Laconia in the Peloponnese where they would be put on boats to Italy.

Three suspected racket members were detained while the alleged ring leader is reportedly a Syrian national who has secured asylum in Greece and has been charged with migrant trafficking in the past.

His base was in Athens, according to sources, and the migrants were temporarily held in a warehouse in Avlona before being taken south.

Moreover, the captain of the boat used to traffic the migrants from Laconia was arrested last year in a similar case.