14 May 2018•Update: 14 May 2018
By Serife Cetin
BRUSSELS
European Council on Monday adopted a decision allowing for the creation of a crime information cell under its naval mission Operation Sophia launched in 2015.
According to a written statement, the council said the cell to be composed of 10 staff members from the relevant law enforcement authorities was aimed at intensifying the fight against human smuggling and trafficking.
The operation will also be tasked to “facilitate the receipt, collection and transmission of information on the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Libya, illegal trafficking, as well as crimes relevant to the security of the operation itself.”
The operation was launched by EU countries on 22 June 2015 and its current mandate runs through 31 December 2018 in a bid to disrupt human-smuggling networks operating in Libya and across Africa.
The headquarters of the mission is located in Rome.
Some 22,439 migrants and refugees entered Europe through the Mediterranean Sea in the first 122 days of 2018, comparing with 45,540 arrivals across the region in the same period last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
According to UN, so far in 2018, 615 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean.
