Police arrest 29 for bringing people to EU on leisure boats

By COLLEEN BARRY and PAOLO SANTALUCIA
Associated Press

FOSSALTA DI PIAVE, Italy (AP) — Authorities say police in Italy and Albania have arrested more than 20 people accused of smuggling hundreds of refugees and migrants into the European Union from Turkey on rented yachts and other leisure vessels. Two brothers who are Iraqi citizens are accused of masterminding a smuggling ring that mostly involved people fleeing Iraq and Syria. The men were arrested without incident near Venice before dawn. EU law enforcement agency Europol said Wednesday they are believed to be part of a bigger ring that allegedly transported at least 1,100 people to the coast of Puglia and then on to other European countries. Authorities estimate the smuggling generated profits of several hundred million euros.