Italy: Five arrests at border near Trieste

Italian border police have carried out a series of arrests in the last month at the country’s border with Slovenia, one part of the so-called Balkan route, up through the Balkan countries, from Greece and onwards to Western Europe. One of the routes comes through Slovenia, along the top of northern Italy and on in to France via the Alps, or along the coast by the sea.

Police say that a 36-year-old Polish citizen was arrested on January 20 in the municipality of Muggia as he was accompanying to Italy a Turkish couple with a child. The couple, who did not have the necessary documentation to travel to Italy, were among the passengers of a bus while the Polish citizen was waiting nearby in a car with a Polish license plate, stated the police. Police arrested him for allegedly aiding and abetting illegal immigration.

Another suspect, a 53-year-old Romanian citizen was arrested on January 27, by Trieste border police. The man had already been sentenced to 26 years in prison on charges of fraud, forgery, money laundering and criminal association committed in 2016 in Spain.

The man, who was arrested at dawn at the Fernetti border crossing near Monrupino, was traveling in a car with a Romanian license plate alongside two compatriots. A European arrest warrant demanding his extradition was issued by Spanish authorities in September 2018.

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Minor among those detained in February

Two others accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigration were identified on February 1, at the border crossing of Basovizza (Trieste): a 19-year-old Croatian citizen who resides in Germany and a 17-year-old German national.

They were transporting in a car with a German license plate four Turkish citizens between the ages of 20 and 47, without documents to enter Italy and reside in the country.

Knives, brass knuckles and fake currrency were found in the car, which was seized.

The two youths were arrested for allegedly aiding and abetting illegal immigration and carrying weapons illegally. The German citizen is also accused of forging money.

The man has been detained in Trieste while the teen is being held at a facility for underage inmates.

Finally, a Ukrainian citizen aged 36, wanted over his alleged participation in an armed robbery, was arrested on February 3, in Fernetti. He was driving a car with a Ukrainian license plate.

Ukrainian authorities had issued a provisional arrest warrant against him demanding his extradition in January 2024.