The multi-million dollar people trafficking business is "over" Italy's anti-migrant interior minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday, alleging that the populist government's hardline approach to illegal immigration had also saved many lives in the Mediterranean due to a sharp fall in crossings.
"The number of deaths in the Mediterranean has halved thanks to this government. Those who were earning millions of euros are understandably worried," Salvini told supporters in Perugia.
"The party is over," said Salvini, who closed Italy's ports to migrant rescue ships in when he took office in June last year.
A total 260 migrants were detected on the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy in January and February: 95% fewer in the same period of last year, according to European Union coastguard and borders agency Frontex figures issued in March and hailed by Salvini.
