Police said they have arrested three people alleged to have trafficked over 300 migrants who reached the southern Italian port of Reggio Calabria on Tuesday.
Tunisian national Dhaou Gammoudi and Libyans Ahmad Araini and Mohamed Biga face charges of criminal association to smuggle illegal immigrants into Italy, endangering human lives and inhumane and degrading treatment of migrant boat passengers.
The 326 migrants that the trio allegedly smuggled to Italy arrived in Reggio Calabria aboard a Spanish navy ship after being picked up in the Mediterranean.
Investigators are trying to identify individuals who organised the migrant boat journey and handled the payments made by passengers, police said.
A total of 125 people suspected of trafficking migrants across the southern Mediterranean from Libya have been arrested by Italian police since March, Italy's defence minister Roberta Pinotti said on Wednesday.
