ROME
(Reuters) - Italy is investigating whether Islamic State is involved in
organizing the passage of tens of thousands of migrants across the
Mediterranean, its justice minister said on Wednesday.
The
Turkey to Greece migration route has been largely shut down since a
repatriation deal was struck between the European Union and Ankara in
March, but hundreds of people are arriving in Italy every day, mostly
from Libya.
Criminal
gangs have taken advantage of chaos in Libya to charge mainly
sub-Saharan Africans, looking for a better life in Europe, hundreds of
dollars to make the voyage.
"From
the information available, there is an investigation underway focused
on whether representatives of ISIS (Islamic State) have crucial roles in
controlling and managing migrant flows to Italy," Justice Minister
Andrea Orlando told a parliamentary committee.
He
told the hearing on immigration, Europe's border-free Schengen accord
and the activity of European police agency Europol that details of the
investigation were secret.
"The
risks we have to take on are high," he said, adding there was also a
suspicion the militants were trying to influence where in Italy migrants
were eventually placed.
The
militant group has made money by selling oil from fields it seized in
the Middle East and North Africa and from plundering weapons and
ammunition.
Militant groups have smuggled members into Europe among the migrants, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
The
migrants are taking often unseaworthy boats from Libya to Italy. A
total of 4,027 migrants or refugees have died worldwide so far this
year, three-quarters of them in the Mediterranean, the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday, a 35 percent increase
on the global toll during the first seven months of 2015.
More than 257,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea this year, it said.
(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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