Police on Tuesday detained 41 people on suspicion of involvement in a transnational organization that helped migrants gain illegal entry to Italy.
A Sicilian regional employee and people linked to national and international circus business were among those being probed.
Investigators say the organisation brought roughly 500 migrants to Italy mainly from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan under false pretences as circus hires with falsified authorisation from the Sicilian regional authorities and police.
The imigrants allegedly paid up to 15,000 euros per person for entry to Italy, of which 2,000-3,000 euros was allegedly pocketed by the circus owners.
Circus owners implicated in the probe include Lino and Sandra Orfei, Alvaro Bizzarri and Darvin Cristiani.
In total the organisation raked in over seven million euros, investigators say.
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