- Title: Italy seizes NGO rescue boat for allegedly aiding illegal migration
- Date: 2nd August 2017
- Summary: AT SEA (FILE - JUNE 18, 2017) (REUTERS) GERMAN NGO JUGEND RETTET RESCUE BOAT "IUVENTA" AT SEA VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS BEING HELPED BOARD "IUVENTA" FROM WOODEN BOAT DUTCH FLAG FLYING FROM "IUVENTA" WITH FEMALE MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANTS ON WOODEN BOAT HANGING ONTO "IUVENTA" MIGRANT BOATS AT SEA MIGRANTS ON DECK OF "IUVENTA" MIGRANTS ON WOODEN BOAT VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS BEING TRANSFERRED FROM WOODEN BOAT TO "IUVENTA" EMPTY MIGRANT BOAT AT SEA RESCUE DINGHIES CARRYING MIGRANTS VARIOUS OF MIGRANT RUBBER BOAT NEXT TO "IUVENTA" RESCUER ON ANOTHER RESCUE SHIP LOOKING ON WITH BINOCULARS VARIOUS OF RUBBER BOAT CARRYING MIGRANTS WITH MEN ON SPEED BOAT NEAR ITS STERN, ACCORDING TO RESCUERS, REMOVING ENGINE / MEN ON SPEEDBOAT LEAVING AS RESCUE DINGHY APPROACHES TO PICK UP MORE MIGRANTS AND MEN ON SPEED BOAT WAVING AS THEY SPEED OFF RESCUED MIGRANT LOOKING ON DINGHY TOWING EMPTY MIGRANT BOAT RESCUE IN PROGRESS WITH "IUVENTA" IN BACKGROUND
- Embargoed: 16th August 2017 18:52
- Keywords: Jugend Retter ship Iuventa seized police investigation NGO ship migrant rescue Mediterranean Sea illegal immigration
- Location: AT SEA AND LAMPEDUSA, ITALY
- City: AT SEA AND LAMPEDUSA, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0026SGT6X3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Italian coastguards on Wednesday (August 2) seized migrant rescue boat "Iuventa", operated by German aid group Jugend Rettet in the Mediterranean, which police said they strongly suspected had aided illegal immigration.
Jugend Rettet said on Facebook it was directed by the coastguard, which coordinates sea rescues, to the Italian island of Lampedusa, where its crew was questioned by police, as they have been in the past. Police produced a search warrant and inspected the ship, before seizing and taking it to Sicily in the late afternoon, the group said, adding none of its crew had been charged.
The order to stop the "Iuventa" came from the Trapani prosecutors, police said. Ambrogio Cartosio, chief prosecutor in the western Sicilian city of Trapani, who is leading the investigation, told a news conference the probe was ongoing and no individual had yet been placed under investigation.
Cartosio said authorities had evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the "Iuventa", and members of the boat's crew.
Beyond meetings at sea with the Libya-based traffickers, Cartosio said there was no indication of any deeper links between them, or that Jugend Rettet was paid for the alleged crimes.
Cartosio told a parliamentary committee in May that he was investigating some members of humanitarian organisations on suspicion they may have cooperated with people smugglers. He did not name any of the groups, but said suspicions arose because some rescue crew seemed to know in advance where to find the flimsy boats crowded with migrants after smugglers sent them off from north African ports.
Rome earlier this week asked eight non-governmental groups to sign a code of conduct for when they were sailing in the southern Mediterranean, including a demand that they carry an armed policemen on board their boats.
Jugend Rettet was one of five groups that refused to sign up, but Cartosio flatly denied a suggestion that there was any link between this abstention and the boat's seizure. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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