Migrant Shipwreck Suspect Returns To Italy

ROME ( Associated Press) - Austrian authorities handed over to Italy on Friday one of the suspected smugglers from the boat that crashed near southern Italy in February, killing 92 migrants, Italian police said.

The suspect, a 27-year-old Turk, identified by police as Ufuk Gun, was arrested on 7 March near Graz, Austria.

The Calabria prosecutor's office is investigating the shipwreck near the coastal town of Cattro, in the "Big Tow" of the Italian peninsula. There were 80 survivors, many of whom staggered to shore or were rescued by local people.

It is also being investigated whether the Italian Coast Guard should have been dispatched hours earlier to prevent the deaths.

Following the shipwreck, the conservative government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tightened criminal penalties against people smugglers who caused the deaths, but denied any culpability in the tragedy.

Italian police reported in writing that authorities had arranged for the suspect, wanted under a European arrest warrant, to return to Italy in the border town of Tarvisio. Police said that after formalities, the man would be transferred to Crotone, the headquarters of the prosecutor's office near Katro, to continue the investigation.

The survivors told investigators who the suspected traffickers were.

At the time an arrest warrant was issued for Gunn, court documents indicated that his whereabouts were unknown and that there was no attorney listed for him.

It is common for human traffickers to try to blend in with their passengers in the hope of avoiding arrest, and then try to exit Italy.

Three other suspected smugglers were previously detained in the investigation of the wreck.

The ship had left Turkey.

Afghans, Pakistanis, Iranians, Somalians and Palestinians were among those who paid around 8,000 euros (then £8,700) for the trip, in hopes of reaching Europe to find jobs or reunite with family.