Italian police and Coast Guard authorities on Wednesday executed an order by a Trapani judge for the preventative seizure of the Iuventa, a ship flying the Dutch flag operating for the German NGO Jugend Rettet, sources said. The order is related to a probe into alleged aiding of illegal immigration. Jugend Rettet is one of several NGOs conducting migrant rescues in the Mediterranean that refused to sign a new code of conduct at the Italian interior ministry this week.
The European Commission has said that NGOs that do not sign the code will not be guaranteed of access to Italian ports.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jugend Rettet said via Twitter that the vessel "has not been confiscated" after it was stopped and checked at the Italian island of Lampedusa.
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