Greek police arrested a retired high ranking officer of Civil Aviation and former town mayor and four other members of a smugglers gang for illegally transporting refugees from Greece to Italy. The arrests occurred at the small airport of Mesolongi, Western Greece, while the gang was about to take off with a Piper aircraft and an Iraqi family of seven.
The Iraqis, 3 adults and 4 minors, told police that they had paid 30,000 euro to illegally enter Italy.
The plane was supposed to land in the airport of Lecce.
Police confiscated the small jet and two cars that were used to transfer refugees to Mesolongi.
According to Greek media, the gang has been smuggling refugees to Italy for the last six months, the retired officer was alleged to be the pilot of the aircraft.
I reckon that also in the past there were cases of illegal smuggling of refugees and migrants from western Greece to Italy via aircraft.
