Italian police say they disrupted migrant smuggling ring, 15 Egyptians arrested
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian police said on Tuesday they had dismantled a migrant smuggling network, leading to the arrests in several countries of 15 Egyptians involved in using sailboats for dangerous illegal sea crossings from Turkey to Greece and Italy.
According to an Italian police statement, the network facilitated the illegal entry into Italy of at least 3,000 migrants since 2021, earning more than $30 million by charging them $10,000 each.
The Italian police said the arrests were made simultaneously in multiple countries with the cooperation of Albanian, German, Turkish and Omani police, coordinated by Italian anti-mafia prosecutors in Sicily and relying on Interpol and Europol.
The smuggling network had been led by an Egyptian who ran operations from Istanbul, the Italian police said.
"The organisation had set up a system that involved recruiting professional skippers, almost all Egyptian, providing logistical support in Turkey while the migrants waited to leave, and transporting them in sailboats to the Greek and Italian coasts," Italian police said in a statement.
Crossings departing from the Turkish ports of Bodrum, Izmir and Marmari took up to a week, with dozens of migrants crammed on board 12-15 metre sailboats with no life-saving equipment, the statement said.
Tens of thousands of migrants are believed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in recent years. The sea route from Turkey to Italy has been particularly notorious since February 2023, when at least 94 people died off Cutro in southern Italy in one of the worst disasters of the crisis.
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New York Post
6 hours ago
- New York Post
NYC construction kingpin who funneled illegal donations to Mayor Adams' 2021 campaign apologizes to taxpayers as he gets wrist-slap sentence
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Politico
7 hours ago
- Politico
Turkish Adams Donor Sentenced
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Rosen also suggested Arkan's case never should have been brought in federal court in the first place, arguing he was 'targeted… to serve some greater end in a bureaucratic power struggle over the Adams case.' While an official from the Turkish consulate helped coordinate Arkan's May 2021 fundraising event for Adams, Rosen said that Arkan 'never had any knowledge of foreign interference' alleged by federal prosecutors. He maintained that neither the Adams campaign nor the Turkish consulate knew about Arkan's straw donor scheme, which he'd cooked up himself. Judge Dale Ho dismissed the arguments. While he conceded 'it is true that there is some incongruency between the government's handling of Mr. Arkan's case and Mayor Adams' case,' he was firm that 'there is not a shred of evidence in the record' indicating that the prosecutors acted wrongly prosecuting Arkan. Another related case hasn't been resolved yet. 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But she noted that the Democratic nominee has pledged additional resources to assist victims of prostitution and sex trafficking. 'While Andrew Cuomo is only interested in 'governing' behind a phone screen, Zohran is committed to genuine public safety, including combatting sex trafficking,' Pekec said in a statement that referenced a new department Mamdani plans to create. 'His Department of Community Safety will invest $40 million towards victims services including for programs like Safe Horizon, for which funding has been cut in past budgets.' The issue of whether to decriminalize sex work has been the subject of heated debate over the years. Organizations like DecrimNY, a coalition of sex workers and various organizations aligned with the decriminalization movement, argue the changes would make sex workers safer by allowing them to report violence or unsafe working conditions to authorities without fear of arrest while delivering more autonomy to consenting adults. — Joe Anuta IN THE COURTS CANNABIS REGULATORS SUED AGAIN: A dozen cannabis dispensary licensees are suing the state over a flip-flop on the cannabis agency's interpretation of the state's 2021 legalization law. 'The consequences are staggering. Petitioners' investments, often more than a million dollars, are now at risk' the petition reads. 'Their livelihoods are being threatened.' The petitioners are licensed under the Conditional Adult-use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) and Social and Economic Equity (SEE) licensing programs, which prioritize entrepreneurs with past cannabis convictions, women and minorities. 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The state is also creating an $15 million applicant relief fund for up to $250,000 per applicant to help find new locations. — Mona Zhang IN OTHER NEWS —26 FED PLAZA: As fewer immigrants show up for their court hearings, arrests at 26 Federal Plaza's immigration courthouses are nearing a standstill. (THE CITY) — GOV. CLEMENCY: Hochul pardoned a Laotian immigrant Friday to stop his deportation. (The New York Times) — CUT THE CHECK: Progressive Democrats in the New York Legislature are decrying Hochul's $2 billion rebate program as fiscally irresponsible amid looming federal cuts. (Gothamist) Missed this morning's New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
9 hours ago
Brooklyn construction magnate gets probation for funneling illegal donations to NYC Mayor Eric Adams
NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn construction magnate was sentenced Friday to a year of probation for working with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, resolving one of two related federal cases after the mayor's criminal charges were dropped. Erden Arkan, 76, told Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho that he regretted his 'poor judgments' in engaging in the straw donor scheme, which helped Adams fraudulently obtain public money for his 2021 mayoral bid under the city's matching funds program. Ho cited Arkan's age and otherwise clean record in imposing the sentence, telling the Turkish-born businessman that his immigrant success story 'exemplifies the American dream.' 'I hope that you don't let this one mistake define you,' Ho told Arkan. Arkan faced up to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors and the federal probation officer agreed that no prison time was warranted. In addition to probation, he must also pay a $9,500 fine and $18,000 in restitution. Arkan pleaded guilty in January to a conspiracy charge in Manhattan federal court. Weeks later, President Donald Trump's Justice Department pressured prosecutors to drop their underlying case against Adams, ultimately getting it dismissed. In court Friday, Arkan's lawyer Jonathan Rosen blasted the government for continuing to pursue his case after getting Adams' charges dismissed. 'To put it mildly, this is a very unusual case. In fact, it is unprecedented,' Rosen argued. In February, Justice Department leadership ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop Adams' case, arguing that it was hindering the Democratic mayor's ability to assist the Republican administration's immigration crackdown. Ho, who also oversaw the mayor's case, dismissed his charges in April. In a written opinion, he agreed it was the only practical outcome but also criticized what he said was the government's 'troubling' rationale for wanting the charges thrown out. While Adams was spared, prosecutors continued to pursue related cases against Arkan and a former aide to the mayor, Mohamed Bahi. Bahi, who served as City Hall's chief liaison to the Muslim community, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to soliciting straw donations for Adams' mayoral campaign from employees of a different Brooklyn construction company at a December 2020 fundraiser. Arkan acknowledged in his January plea that he knowingly violated the law by reimbursing employees of his construction firm for their donations to Adams' campaign. In brief remarks Friday, he apologized to city taxpayers who bankroll the matching funds program, telling Ho: 'I love this city. I dedicated my life to making it better. It pains me that I have harmed it.' According to prosecutors, Adams personally solicited donations from Arkan and a Turkish consular official at an April 2021 dinner. The following month, Arkan held a fundraiser at the headquarters of his construction company, KSK, in which 10 employees donated between $1,200 and $1,500 to the campaign. They were later reimbursed by Arkan, making them illegal straw donations. Adams then used those funds to fraudulently obtain public money under the city's matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege. A well-known member of New York's Turkish community, Arkan's ties to Adams first emerged in November 2023 after federal investigators searched the businessman's home, along with the home of Adams' chief fundraiser and his liaison to the Turkish community. Adams pleaded not guilty to bribery and other charges after a 2024 indictment accused him of accepting illegal campaign contributions and travel discounts from a Turkish official and others — and returning the favors by, among other things, helping Turkey open a diplomatic building without passing fire inspections. At a Feb. 19 hearing that precipitated the dismissal of his case, Adams told Ho: 'I have not committed a crime.' The first-term mayor, a former police captain, skipped the June Democratic primary and is currently running for reelection as an independent.
