Police stopped two men on
Monday believed to be the speedboat pilots responsible for
trafficking 58 immigrants who landed near the Sicilian coastal
city of Ragusa on October 31.
The men, 32-year-old Mouhamed Mouhamed and 59-year-old Adel
Ale Mouhamed Ale, both Egyptian, are under investigation by the
Ragusa prosecutor's office for conspiracy to aid illegal
immigration.
The immigrants, rescued by the British merchant ship Normand
Cutter, told investigators they were kept locked in a warehouse
and beaten repeatedly until the day of the speedboat's
departure, and that they paid an average of 1,200 euros each for
the trip.
Immigrants who landed at Pozzallo near Ragusa are currently
being transferred to other centers because the Italian Coast
Guard is bringing 350 more immigrants to that city's port on
Monday.
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