Charity rescue boats will not return to waters off Libya, Italy's anti-migrant interior minister Matteo Salvini said on Thursday, vowing to quash the "dirty" human trafficking trade.
"Thanks to our action, NO charity ship is off Libya, meaning that the human traffickers' dirty work has dried up," Salvini wrote on social media.
"Result: 21,000 arrivals to Italy so far this year compared with 110,000 at the same point of 2017," the post added.
When the populist government took office in June, Salvini closed Italy's ports to NGO and international rescue ships, sparking several international standoffs that left migrants stranded at sea for days.
The last ship to rescue migrants off Libya, the Aquarius 2, operated by the SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders charities, has been stuck at the French port of Marseille since Panama withdrew its registration in late September - allegedly after pressure from Italy.
The ship has rescued 30,000 people making the potentially deadly Mediterranean crossing to flee violence and poverty.
