Italian police announced on Wednesday the dismantling of a network of Chinese smugglers who illegally brought migrants of the same nationality into the peninsula using luxury cars.
The traffickers transported the illegal immigrants by posing as “unsuspected Asian citizens, well dressed, with little baggage, traveling in powerful and expensive cars, driven by Chinese citizens residing for years in Italy and speaking Italian” , according to a police press release.
The Chinese generally arrived by plane in Serbia, where they are visa-exempt, then drove through Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia to finally enter Italy, according to the same source. Once on the peninsula, they were taken to a place considered safe where they stayed for one or two days before hitting the road again for the final destination, “generally in Italy (…) but also in other European countries such as France and Spain.
At this stop, the smugglers took their passports and “from that moment on the illegal immigrants (…) were exposed to severe exploitation until they had repaid the debt incurred to travel”. During the investigation, the police arrested nine members of this smuggling network and identified 77 illegal immigrants “including many women and some minors, between 15 and 18 years old”.