ROME: Italian police said Monday they had arrested 13 suspected members of a smuggling ring transporting migrants from the Middle East and South Asia into Italy and onto France.
The suspects, from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, were picked up in several Italian cities including Bologna, Rome and Milan on Sunday, prosecutors in Catanzaro in the southern region of Calabria said.
They are accused of criminal association and money laundering.
Investigators had gathered evidence of a “criminal organization rooted in Turkiye and Iraq, with branches in Italy, France and Greece, dedicated to managing the sea transport of irregular migrants,” prosecutors said in a statement.
These migrants came from countries including Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Lebanon, and were brought onto the coasts of Calabria.
The organization had a network of compatriots who housed the arrivals in the Crotone area and bought train or bus tickets to the Italian border with France, where smugglers helped them pass via the Ventimiglia area.
Three commercial premises in Ventimiglia, Rome and Milan were also seized during the operation, the suspected locations of illegal money transfers using the “hawala” system, an informal method of payment based on trust that is far more difficult to trace than bank transfers.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has made clamping down on irregular migration a priority, hailed the arrests, saying her government was “determined to dismantle these criminal networks and to eradicate illegal human trafficking.”
Italy arrests 13 Pakistani, Afghan and Iraqi suspects in ‘people trafficking ring’
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Italy arrests 13 Pakistani, Afghan and Iraqi suspects in ‘people trafficking ring’
- The suspects were picked up in several Italian cities including Bologna, Rome and Milan on Sunday
- Investigators uncovered a ‘criminal organization rooted in Turkiye and Iraq,” with branches elsewhere
Pakistani stocks breach 176,000 points barrier as investors expect further rate cuts
- Pakistani financial analyst attributes surge to falling inflation, investors expecting further policy rate cuts
- Pakistan’s finance ministry said Thursday that inflation had slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December
KARACHI: Pakistani stocks continued their bullish run on Thursday, breaching the 176,000 points barrier for the first time after trading ended, with analysts attributing the surge to investors expecting further cuts in the policy rate.
The KSE-100 benchmark gained 2,301.17 points at close of business on Thursday, marking an increase of 1.32 percent to settle at 176,355.49 points.
Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent last month, breaking a four-meeting hold in a move that surprised markets. Pakistan’s consumer price inflation slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December, while prices fell on a monthly basis as per data from the finance ministry.
“Upbeat data for consumer price index (CPI) inflation at 5.6pc in December 2025 [with] investors expecting a further State Bank of Pakistan rate cuts on falling inflation data,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Commodities Ltd., told Arab News.
The stock market witnessed a trading volume of 1,402.650 million shares, with a traded value of Rs48.424 billion ($173 million), compared with 957.239 million shares valued at Rs44.231 billion ($158 million) during the previous session.
Topline Securities, a leading brokerage firm in Pakistan, credited the surge to strong buying at the first session.
“This positivity can be accredited to buying by local institutions on the start of the new calendar year,” it said.
Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad highlighted that the bullish trend at the stock market reflected “strong investor confidence.”
“With lower inflation, affordable fuel, stronger reserves, rising digitization and a buoyant capital market, Pakistan’s economic outlook is clearly improving--supporting greater confidence, better investment sentiment and more positive momentum for 2026,” he said on social media platform X.
