'De luxe' migrant trips on speed boats from Tunisia

(ANSA) - Palermo, April 10 - Palermo prosecutors on Tuesday ordered the arrests of the members of a criminal organisation brining migrants from Tunisia to Sicily on "de luxe" voyages on high-speed dinghies, judicial sources said. The passengers were prepared to pay dear in exchange for safe journeys, the sources said.
    Those who landed were able to elude police controls and identification procedures.
    This service could also be used by terrorists wanting to preserve their anonymity, police said.
    The organisation included jihadis among its members, police said. The suspected extremists manifested attitudes hostile to Western culture, police said, also via propaganda using fake profiles on social media platforms.
    Seven members of the gang have been arrested and six are wanted, police said.
    Those arrested are: Adele Micalizzi, wife of the Brancaccio boss Cosimo Geloso, who ran cigarette smuggling for the gang, Mokhtar Riani, Mohamed Zoubirim, Fouzia Ganouane, Mondher Hamrouni, Hamid Hassoune and Mehdi Ben Ayed. One of those arrested is a suspected jihadi who allegedly praised jihad on social media, police said.