EU to intensify maritime and aerial surveillance off the coast of Libya to deter people smugglers

People smugglers are posing a major problem for countries in Europe because it is not possible to refuse entry to the refugees of mid-eastern countries like Syria, Libya and accepting them on humanitarian grounds lead to problems related to housing and meeting other social benefits. Therefore, European Union ministers have decided to put a check to such illegal entry of migrants and have approved plans for an unprecedented naval force to fight people smugglers in the Mediterranean.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 18 May 2015.

The operation will involve maritime and aerial surveillance by the deployment of warships and aircraft off the coast of Libya which, at present, is the source of the problem.
As indicated by EU foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini, the decision that has been taken in Brussels is expected to disrupt the business model of the network of smugglers and traffickers in the Mediterranean. Some statistics on the subject would reveal the magnitude of the problem – in the current year, some 51,000 migrants have entered Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea and nearly 30,500 have entered through Italy. Moreover, about 1,800 have lost their lives in this attempt, they have met a watery grave.
The mission is proposed to be called EU Navfor Med and it will be based in Rome. The tentative plan is to collect intelligence on the traffickers by the use of radar, satellite pictures and reconnaissance flights and raiding unflagged boats.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Migrants trying to escape from Bangladesh and Myanmar are finding themselves in literally deep waters because the people smugglers have left them stranded in the sea and in the latest rescue efforts, over 600 of them have landed in Indonesia's Aceh province.
They were rescued by local fishing boats as reported in bbc.com dated 16 May 2015.
Thousands of these migrants, mainly from the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, have been abandoned at sea by people smugglers and nearly 2,000 of them have already come ashore in Aceh. They are being provided with medical assistance and food.

Subsequently, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been turning the boats away.
However, 210 of the latest arrivals that landed in Aceh were from Myanmar and 395 from Bangladesh. As per medical officials, eight of the persons on board were critically ill.
The boat was heavily packed and had been abandoned by people smugglers who also disabled the engine. The migrants included women and babies and they had revealed that they had no food or water and that 10 of them had already died. The UN refugee agency has requested neighboring countries to co-ordinate a search and rescue operation because nearly 8,000 migrants are believed to be trapped on boats in the area.
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