“Ghost boats” slip onto Italian beaches at night, with migrants vanishing as soon as they land Tony Gentile/ReutersItaly is braced for so-called ghost boats bringing refugees from Tunisia, raising fears that terrorists are landing on Mediterranean beaches. Investigators believe that 5,000 Tunisians have sailed on small boats to Sicily, Lampedusa and Linosa since June, recalling the 2011 exodus during the Arab Spring. Prosecutors suspect some of the ghost boats, which slip onto Italian beaches at night, have been loaded from ships masquerading as fishing boats. Many of the Tunisians sail from Bizerta and Sfax in Tunisia and vanish as soon as they land in Italy, leaving wet clothes on the sand. In August a sweatshirt was found with the slogan “Haters Paris” and a picture of an upside-down Eiffel Tower, believed to be a reference to the terrorist attacks there in 2015.

Source: The Times September 20, 2017 23:03 UTC