THE ITALY CONNECTION

THE central route across the Mediterranean to Italy has become by far the most popular as people-traffickers in lawless Libya take ruthless control of vulnerable migrants.

It is feared as many as a million people are waiting in searing heat along the North African coast to find a passage to Europe.

Originating from sub-Saharan Africa as well as Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, they have travelled along a network of smuggling routes once used to carry gold, spices and ivory by camel train and which are now utilised by Islamic gangs, who pass their human cargo on to other traders at stopping points in the Sahara.

The gangs put migrants aboard old, unseaworthy boats and abandon them to make their own way towards Europe. The migrants then rely on search-and-rescue operations by the ships of EU nations’ navies — as well as fleets of boats run by international charities — to bring them safely into Italian ports.

This has fuelled criticism that those ships are effectively operating a ‘taxi service’ which plays into the hands of the traffickers, who make millions by charging fares of up to £3,000 a head.

The trade in human misery has been allowed to flourish because of the collapse of a functioning government after the fall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 (brought about with the help of the RAF at the behest of David Cameron).