2023-09-17 17:24:55
TUNISIA, 17 Sept. (DPA/EP) –
Tunisian security forces reported this Sunday of a broad operation against human trafficking networks centered in the coastal province of Sfax, located very close to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The operation began last Friday and lasted two days, until Saturday, according to the Tunisian state news agency, TAP.
A spokesman for the Tunisian Coast Guard, Husem Yibebli, highlighted that the operation has frustrated two attempts to cross the Mediterranean. More than 200 sub-Saharans have been intercepted and six boats have been seized, Yibebli explained to TAP.
The Tunisian Ministry of the Interior has highlighted that this campaign was carried out by order of President Kais Saied to put an end to the “unacceptable flow of illegal immigrants.”
This operation coincides with the visit of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to Lampedusa, which welcomes more than 10,000 migrants who arrived by sea in the last week. More than 5,000 of them arrived on the island on Wednesday, a record number for a single day.
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