Syrian gang caught trying to smuggle 20-tonnes of cannabis worth £150million into Europe

A gang comprising ten Syrians have been arrested by the Italian Police – the gang was trying to smuggle 20.5 tonnes of cannabis worth an estimated £150million into Europe. The contraband was concealed in a specially converted cargo vessel below massive slabs of granite.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 17 October 2015.

The vessel was a Cook Island-flagged merchant vessel Jupiter and it was boarded in the Mediterranean Sea by Italian Finance Police who are responsible for border security. The vessel was then taken under guard to the Port of Cagliari on Sardinia.
Europol has confirmed that the major joint operation was launched after receiving a tip-off that the freighter had drugs hidden below the legitimate cargo. The total was 821 packets of cannabis. It was hidden in the forward ballast tank of the Jupiter and came to light following an intensive 15-day search. The cargo vessel is 97 metres long and 16 metres wide and it had visited Vigo in northern Spain, after crossing the Atlantic before it headed south into the Mediterranean.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Nearly half a million refugees are assembling in Libya to try and flee to Europe on the migrant boats that have killed thousands already. Thousands of them have already left in boats are believed to be stranded in the Mediterranean Sea.
This has been revealed by senior Royal Navy officers who are leading Britain's Mediterranean rescue mission off the Libyan coast.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 7 June 2015.

British flagship HMS Bulwark is reported to be on its way and is speeding across the Mediterranean to help rescue thousands of migrants who are stranded at sea having after having undertaken the dangerous journey from Libya to Europe.
In the opinion of HMS Bulwark's Captain, there are from 450,000 to 500,000 migrants in Libya who are waiting at the border and this is not going to stop in the near future.
The HMS Bulwark is a 19,000 tonne ship and it has on board more than 80 British personnel. It is moving at 15 knots and it has two Merlin helicopters flying ahead on surveillance missions – it can, and has, spotted another migrant boat.
Not just HMS Bulwark but there are 11 other vessels on their way to carry out a major rescue operation – it seems the migrants had set off in order to take advantage of the good weather.
Some of them have been rescued by the German Navy frigate Hessen and are at at an unspecified location in the Mediterranean Sea.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Illegal immigrants are left to fend for themselves in the Mediterranean Sea because, while over 100,000 have reached Italy since the turn of the year and some 2,000 have died trying dailymail.co.uk, the UK is to not willing to involve in their rescue operations.

According to the UN refugee body UNHCR, the reluctance of the British to launch rescue operations for illegal immigrants drowning in the Mediterranean Sea is because that could encourage more people to attempt the dangerous crossing from Africa. In the opinion of Britain, offering help will act as a 'pull factor' to others to seek refuge in Europe.
This decision has set off a debate – it has been condemned by campaigners. The Italian Mare Nostrum mission is scheduled to end and a more limited European Union border security operation is expected to be launched on November 1. As Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren has remarked - the British Government seems oblivious to the fact that the world is in the grip of the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War.

In his opinion, the only outcome of withdrawing help would be to witness more people needlessly and shamefully dying on Europe's doorstep. The solution lies not in building the walls of fortress in Europe higher, but to extend more safe and legal channels for people to access protection.