Somali man aged 24 held by Italian police in connection with boat disaster off Lampedusa

[spartacus]

Italian police have arrested a 24-year-old Somali man in connection with last month's boat disaster off Lampedusa in which 366 African migrants died.

 

The man, believed to belong to an armed group, is accused of being one of the organisers of the people trafficking. He was arrested on Lampedusa.

 

The alleged captain of the Lampedusa boat, a Tunisian man named Khaled Bensalam, is being held in Sicily.

 

Most of the victims on 3 October were Eritreans and Somalis.

 

The overcrowded fishing boat caught fire, capsized and sank near the shore of the tiny rocky island off the North African coast. There were 155 survivors.

 

Italian media say the Somali man's arrest followed investigations by Sicilian police and anti-Mafia police based in Rome. He is now being questioned in Sicily.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24865115

[Safferz]

Somali or whatever ethnicity, the people who sell dreams to desperate people and put them on the overcrowded boats that lead to their watery deaths should be locked up forever. I'm often desensitized to the news but whenever I hear of a capsized ship leaving the Horn for the Middle East or North Africa for Europe (or the many stories of ship crews telling Africans to jump off the boat when an overweight ship becomes an issue mid trip or they're about to be caught), I find it so upsetting.

[Ibtisam]

^^^Locked up? I am more for poetic justice- load them up to a ship and dump them in the sea. Mass murders.

[Safferz]

*Ibtisam;985047 wrote:

^^^Locked up? I am more for poetic justice- load them up to a ship and dump them in the sea. Mass murders.

Agreed.

[spartacus]

who ever has link for trafficking people and organizing shall be executed, this fools they don't have mercy to any one. they take a lot of money from innocent people and put them overcrowded small boat,

[LayZie G.]

This tragedy and others like it go beyond just human trafficking.

 

Rape and torture occurs daily. Not to mention modern day slavery, where some studies estimate nearly a million people are exploited, and brought and/or traded along the borders of Europe under the demise and promise

of new opportunities, employment being one, only to be turned to forced labour and sexual bondage, with no

immediate escape.

 

This isn't to suggest that there aren't any survivors. On the contrary, there are many, and while some of these

victims turn to the trade as a survival mechanism, sometimes going to being tortured to becoming the torturer,

a Madam of sort,others escape, with the psychological and physical scars. (the ladder count themselves lucky

when in fact the trauma they suffer is life altering)

 

In some of the studies I read, the leading victims come from poor families in parts of Eastern Europe and

Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria being on top of the list.

 

With that said, the subject of this thread, who the Italian police said was of Somali descent was identified by

some of the survivals, one report mentioned. This is why the Italian police were able to capture him with the

help of his victims.

 

The victims accused him of torture and rape of some of the Oromo and Somali women who were on board.

 

The report alleges that he was part of the criminal gang responsible for trafficking the

victims and survivals of the boat that sank off the Lampedusa.

 

 

Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24866338

 

 

 

PS: Ibti, you have every right to be outraged, and ofcourse, the criminals deserve the very same faith as

their victims, but this is much bigger than just one man. Human trafficking is a lucrative business, and as such

it isn't easy just to punish an individual when an entire organization is responsible. You kill one, ten more will

be recruited within the hour.

[Hawdian]

^knowing this Arab Mediterranean region I can tell you that it's mostly Libyan And Egyptian gangs smuggling refugees from black africa and Syria . The few somalis are victims i doubt any of them have anything to with these things.

[Che -Guevara]

*Ibtisam;985047 wrote:

^^^Locked up? I am more for poetic justice- load them up to a ship and dump them in the sea. Mass murders.

Good thing you are not a judge.

[Hawdian]

^ Well then it's too late .....As the Arabs say the dead one did the crime :cool:

[Nin-Yaaban]

Elmi Mouhamaud Muhidin 24, was arrested while hiding on island of Lampedusa

 

Two Italian policemen hold pictures of Palestinian Attour Abdalmenem, left, and Somali Mouhamud Elmi Muhidin during a press conference in Palermo, Sicily, today

 

[Safferz]

lool of course Nin-Yaaban is the one to post the photos of the Somali guy arrested

[Ibtisam]

I didnt say skip the process- have the fair trail and all, determine he or they are the ones- then they should get the fitting punishment. So Che probably lucky for criminals that I am not the judge. I am very much for innocent till proven guilty, but if proven guilty....

 

 

Lazy I completely agree with you- they need to find the head of the snake, the little guy will always be replaced as you correctly say.