ROME — Italian authorities detained 38 people in a crackdown on a migrant trafficking ring that used a Rome cosmetics shop as a base for illegal financial transactions, officials said Monday. Lo Voi said another scheme involved migrants, legally in Italy, falsely stating that they had relatives who wanted to reach them in Italy. Investigators alleged that the ring also helped arrange “convenience marriages.” The ring also used the same channel to smuggle in drugs, specifically chat from Ethiopia, police said. Under Italian law, immediate family members or spouses can be given permission to enter Italy. Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and economic migrants have reached Italy in the last few years, after rescue at sea when smugglers’ boats founder in the Mediterranean.

Source: Washington Post July 04, 2016 11:14 UTC