Europol unit to tackle Mediterranean people smugglers

(THE HAGUE) - Continental police agency Europol on Tuesday launched a specialist unit to tackle rampant people smuggling across the Mediterranean, despite the increasingly chaotic situation in North Africa.

"We needed a better intelligence network to stop and dismantle those criminal networks before they start" sending people across the sea, Europol director Rob Wainwright told AFP.

The unit, comprised of experts from 13 European countries and based at Europol headquarters in The Hague, will build an intelligence network to "pick up the strands and use our analytical capability," said Wainwright.

"This team will be able to act immediately," he said, admitting the uphill struggle police face given political turmoil in some countries from which migrants travel.

"In Libya, for example, it's very difficult to do, it's not always possible for us to have very strong law enforcement relations with these countries," he said.

The unit will pass on its intelligence to countries where they do have partners, who can in turn make arrests, Europol said.

Around 220,000 migrants arrived in Europe from North Africa last year, braving dangerous conditions. Over 3,000 migrants died making the journey in 2014, with over 1,000 killed already this year.

The people smugglers are increasingly international, including Europeans, Syrians, Iraqis and Libyans, Europol said.

The police agency on Tuesday announced as part of its migration crackdown the arrest of 16 alleged people smugglers in Greece, who earned up to 7.5 million euros smuggling hundreds of migrants.