Volunteers for an association
that helps asylum seekers said Friday that 17 people suspected
of being among 40 migrants who went missing from a Church-run
migrant centre after being transferred from the Diciotti coast
guard ship have been tracked down by police in Rome.
The Baobab association volunteers said the 17 were taken from
the area of Rome's Piazzale Tiburtino to the city's immigration
office to be identified.
The volunteers said the police involved in the operation
"confirmed that the were searching for the migrants who
disembarked from the Diciotti" and who then left their migrant
centre at Rocca Di Papa, south of Rome.
Some 100 Eritrean migrants were moved to the centre last week
after a standoff between Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and
the EU.
Salvini, who is accused of kidnapping them, kept them aboard
the Diciotti for 10 days saying they would not land until the EU
agreed to take them in.
In the end Catholic bishops agreed to take 100 while Ireland
and Albania said they would take 20 each.
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