走私移民人口的蛇頭被引渡到意大利

Sudan has extradited a man suspected of being behind a migrant trafficking network to Italy, Italian police said Wednesday.

The Eritrean Medhanie Yehdego Mered, 35, was arrested in Khartoum at the end of May. He has been on a wanted list for over a year for international people smuggling.

"Mered is considered one of the biggest migrant traffickers operating on the Libyan-sub-Saharan route," Italian police said in a statement. "He directed operations not only in Africa but also kept fellow operators in Italy up to date on the arrival of boats, to enable the migrants to continue to their final destinations [in Europe]."

Police have also said that tapped phone conversations indicate Mered was in contact with traffickers in Northern Europe. They also indicated that he showed "disregard for the lives of the migrants, appearing cynical and unscrupulous."

Sudanese forces worked with Italian and British intelligence to track down Mered. He is the first suspected top smuggler to be arrested in Africa and detained in Italy which, like Greece, has been overwhelmed by an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants since 2008.意大利警方週三表示，蘇丹引渡了一名男子，此人涉嫌是一個向意大利走私移民的網絡頭目。

此人名叫密爾德，是厄立特里亞人，現年35歲，五月底在喀土穆被捕，他因跨境走私人口遭通緝已有一年多。

意大利警方在聲明中說：“密爾德被認爲是在利比亞至撒哈拉以南一線活動的最大移民走私蛇頭”。“他不僅指揮非洲的運作，也爲意大利同夥提供船隻抵達最新日期，以便讓移民能夠繼續前往（歐洲）最終目的地。”

警方還表示，監聽電話錄音顯示，密爾德與北歐人販保持聯繫。警方還指出，密爾德“漠視移民性命，憤世嫉俗，而且肆無忌憚”。

蘇丹部隊與意大利和英國情報機構合作追捕密爾德。密爾德是第一位在非洲被捕，後在意大利拘押的涉嫌蛇頭。同希臘一樣，意大利2008年以來一直受成千上萬移民潮的困擾。