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Cops smash immigrant smuggling
10/03/2004 20:34 - (SA)
Rome - In the latest scandal at Milan's main airport, police on Wednesday said they have arrested nine Egyptian men suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants into Italy by using airport cleaners' uniforms to slip them out of transit waiting areas.
The suspects, who all live in Italy, provided the passengers arriving from north Africa with jackets used by cleaning staff at Malpensa airport, allowing them to skip immigration controls, said airport police official Vincenzo Ricciardi.
The suspects were part of a group based in Egypt that, for €5 000, provided the clandestine immigrants with tickets for flights which transited through Malpensa and fake documents to use in Italy, Ricciardi said.
Police said they arrested the nine suspects between December and March. Three of the men were employees of a company contracted to clean the airport, Ricciardi said.
In the course of the probe, officials had intercepted and expelled some 40 people, mainly Egyptians, trying to enter Italy with the group's help, Ricciardi said.
Ricciardi said he didn't know how many immigrants had slipped out of the airport undetected thanks to the scheme, which started operating in August.
Most of those stopped were supposed to be flying a route from Egypt to Morocco, via Malpensa, he said.
Italy's civil aviation authorities said they were launching an investigation into airport security because of the immigrant scandal.
It was not immediately clear why the second-leg of the immigrants flight was allowed to depart without all passengers' boarding.
Malpensa, the focus of efforts to turn it into a major international hub, has been plagued with embarrassing scandals.
In two separate rounds of arrests, several employees have been arrested for allegedly stealing items ranging from cameras to cellphones from luggage.
Closed-circuit cameras showed employees rifling through bags before putting them on baggage claim carousels and heaving promising-looking suitcases over the airport fence to waiting accomplices.
- AP
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