Chinese slaves to bring irregular immigrants to Italy and from exploited for a few years in the factories as if they were worthless goods and workers without rights. A flow of irregular Chinese citizens arrived in Italy via the Balkan route, therefore by land, with a long journey travel from China to Serbia by plane and then up to Trieste by carthanks to human traffickers, was discovered in the North East. The Border Police of Trieste defeated a criminal organization that brought illegal Chinese to Italy and arrested nine people.
The agents operated under the direction of the local Public Prosecutor’s Office – District Anti-Mafia Directorate. The investigations, directed by the deputy public prosecutor Federico Frezza, were started following the arrest of a Chinese citizen, carried out in April during border checks along the Trieste border, intercepted while he was transporting four illegal Chinese citizens who had just entered in national territory from Slovenia. Subsequent investigative investigations made it possible to ascertain the existence of a consistent, continuous flow of irregular Chinese citizens who were brought in in small groups by plane to the external European borders in countries (mainly Serbia) where they can enter without a visa and then, from there, they were accompanied by car, through Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia, up to the Italian state border.
Once in Italy, they were picked up by fellow countrymen who transported them by car to a sorting point: a real “safe house”, which was found in Cazzago di Pianiga (VE), where the illegal immigrants stopped for one or two days, and from where they were then picked up by other drivers, who took them to their final destinations, mostly in Italy (they then went to Venice, Milan, Prato etc. .), but also in other European countries such as France and Spain. While staying in the safe house, they would come the passports used during the trip were confiscated and then sent back to China. Which means that, from that moment on, the illegal immigrants become real ghosts, destined for severe punishment exploitation until the debt incurred for the trip is repaid; relegated to laboratories, tailors, without any possibility of a free or semi-free life, without medical assistance, with nothing except a bed and a place to work indefinitely, until returning to China after a few years.
The total foreigners identified during the investigative activities amount to seventy-seven, among whom there are also many women and some minors, between fifteen and 18 years old. On the other hand, nine Chinese citizens were arrested in total during the operation for aggravated aiding and abetting irregular immigration, of which eight were caught while they were illegally transferring from the Italian-Slovenian border to their respective destinations and one was believed to be the main organizer of the criminal plan. All arrests were validated by the investigating judge of Trieste, Massimo Tomassini, who also applied the precautionary measure in all cases.
Finally, twenty-seven people were reported at liberty, three of whom were accused of aiding and abetting irregular immigration and twenty-four of illegal entry into the territory of the State. The criminal phenomenon revealed by the investigations highlighted the existence of a continuous and at the same time invisible flow of inputs, hidden under the cover of unsuspecting well-dressed Asian citizens, with limited luggage, traveling in powerful and expensive cars driven by Chinese citizens who have been resident in Italy for several years and who speak in Italian. It should also be highlighted that the arrests made, carried out mainly during the ongoing investigations, were carried out in less than two months, demonstrating the criminal capacity and resilience of the organisation, which continued with the criminal project even in the face of numerous arrests and vehicle seizures, carried out on average every four days.
