Italy's hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini on Thursday praised Malta for taking back a tanker from a group of migrants who allegedly hijacked it and forced the vessel to sail north towards Europe after it rescued over 100 people off Libya.
"Malta's navy did a good job," Salvini wrote on social media.
"This incident shows that immigration is run by criminals and must be stopped by all legitimate means," the post added.
Reports said a Maltese special forces team boarded Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu and returned control to the captain, before escorting it to the Maltese port of Senglea. Troops made contact with the captain while the ship was still 30 nautical miles off shore and he told them he and his crew were being forced by a group migrants to proceed to Malta.
Maltese police arrested four of the 108 migrants on board the tanker when it docked at the port of Senglea, the Times of Malta reported. The rescued migrants included 19 women and 12 children, the report said.
Malta's premier Joseph Muscat tweeted that the tiny island nation would not "shirk responsibility despite our size" and vowed to follow international rules.
The tanker was reportedly hijacked on Wednesday six miles off Libya's coast when its captain made it clear he would return them to the lawless North African country, where conditions for detained migrants are reported to be horrific.
Commenting on the hijacking, Salvini on Wednesday called it “an act of piracy and delinquency on the high seas".
