Tunisia arrests 'pirates' who robbed boat of migrants en route to Italy

Tunisian police have arrested four men, including a fisherman, on suspicion of maritime piracy after they allegedly robbed a boat taking migrants from Tunisia to Italy.

File Photo: Migrants from Eritrea, Libya and Sudan sail on a wooden boat in the Mediterranean sea, June 17, 2023. AP - Joan Mateu Parra

Speaking on Thursday, Farid Ben Jha – a spokesman for a court in the port city of Monastir – said police intervened and arrested the four Tunisians last Saturday after one of the migrants posted a video online showing men taking the engine of the migrants' dinghy.

The dinghy, engine and an unspecified sum of money were later seized from their homes, and the four men have been accused of "criminal association with the aim of attacking people and property".

It is not the first case of piracy targeting migrants who have sought to make the treacherous sea journey from North Africa to Europe.

Two weeks ago, prosecutors in Italy said six Tunisian "pirate fishermen" had been detained after threatening to set adrift a boat carrying 49 migrants unless those aboard handed over the boat's engine and their money.

In July, four Tunisians – a captain and three crew members – were accused of forcing migrants to hand over their phones and cash in exchange for being towed closer to Italy's Lampedusa island.

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Over 100,000 migrants in Italy since January 2023

Meanwhile, the Italian news agency Ansa said investigations revealed that some Tunisian fishermen had turned to piracy as it was more lucrative.

So far this year, around 113,000 migrants have landed in Italy, two-thirds of them from Tunisia and the rest from neighbouring Libya.

Departures of sub-Saharan migrants have risen since spring, when Tunisian President Kais Said alleged that "hordes" of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the country.

Tunisians have also opted for the journey across the Mediterranean in growing numbers as the country faces a grinding economic crisis and severe shortages of basic staples.